Cosmetic and reconstructive surgery expert Dr. David Reid is a board certified plastic surgeon at New Dimensions Cosmetic and Reconstructive Surgery in Belleville, Illinois. He graduated from Wake Forest University School of Medicine in 1983 and completed his surgical residency training at Walter Reed Medical Center. He is currently a member of the American Medical Association and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Here, Dr. Reid explains the ways cosmetic surgeons can treat dropping eyelids.
When a patient comes into the office complaining of droopy eyelids, what he probably needs is something called blepharoplasty. Blepharoplasty is a procedure in which a surgeon removes the fat and excess skin and muscle from a patient’s eyelids, resulting in a more youthful, refreshed appearance.
A patient who refers to droopy eyelids specifically is usually referring to his upper eyelids, where loose skin can commonly hang down. Not only can this obstruct a person’s vision, in some cases, but it can frequently make a person look more aged and tired than he actually is. Obviously, this is a problem that people really want to have fixed right away.
Generally, patients who come into a cosmetic surgeon’s office asking for blepharoplasty to treat droopy eyelids tend to be older than the patients who come in looking to have a liposuction procedure or breast augmentation. That just has to do with the nature of this issue, which is something people primarily face as they get older.
One difference I have been seeing lately, though, is that patients are frequently coming in and asking to have a body lift and blepharoplasty procedure done at the same time. The majority of these patients asking for this are in their 40s or 50s. The benefit to having multiple procedures done at the same time is that these patients can come into the operating room, go to sleep, and wake up with a whole new look.
As the surgeon, having patients come in for these combo procedures has additional benefits, as well. Because the majority of patients who do this are put completely out under a general anesthetic, they can be completely still while I am working on their eyelids. Obviously this is a delicate procedure. So the more still a patient can be during the operation the better, as far as I am concerned.
During the blepharoplasty procedure itself, I am removing the loose skin and fatty tissue from behind the skin around the eyes. Although this is true for both upper lid and lower lid procedures, plastic surgeons tend to not remove quite as much skin or fat during a lower lid blepharoplasty procedure as we would during an upper lid blepharoplasty procedure.
Blepharoplasty is a procedure I have been doing for some time. In fact, in the past, it used to be the number one procedure that I performed most frequently at my practice. We have a high success rate with this procedure, which is why it is so popular with men and women in their 40s and 50s.
The amount of recovery time that a patient needs to recover fully from a blepharoplasty procedure to treat droopy eyelids varies. Generally, I recommend that desk workers take at least one week off from work after the surgery is over.
I actually had this procedure done myself, in fact. And in my case, I took three days off work. So the amount of time that a patient needs to stay home from work varies depending on his personal health and the type of work that he does.
The information in the article is not intended to substitute for the medical expertise and advice of your healthcare provider. We encourage you to discuss any decisions about treatment or care with an appropriate healthcare provider.
