Browlift And Blepharoplasty

Blepharoplasty (Eyelid Surgery)

Blepharoplasty can rejuvenate puffy, sagging or tired-looking eyes by removing excess fat, skin, and muscle from the upper and lower eyelids. Oftentimes, the fat can be repositioned to give the patient a youthful look.

Blepharoplasty may be performed for cosmetic reasons or medical reasons. Lifting droopy eyelids can often improve a patient’s vision. Blepharoplasty can be combined with a facelift or BOTOX® treatments to raise the eyebrows or reduce the appearance of wrinkles, crow’s feet or dark circles under the eyes.

Eyelid Surgery

The skin on our eyelids and around our eyes is among the thinnest on the entire human body. This is important to allow the eyelids to freely move. But it’s also a detriment when it comes to aging because this skin is susceptible to the ravages of being constantly exposed to the sun and the elements. Throw in our declining production of collagen, which drops one additional percentage point after our 20th birthday, and you have a recipe for sagging eyelids, puffy skin under our eyes, and an overall older appearance.
Blepharoplasty with the team at Dominion Plastic Surgery can turn back the clock for patients from Fairfax, Falls Church, VA and all around the Washington D.C. area.

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WHAT IS BLEPHAROPLASTY?

Blepharoplasty is the clinical term for eyelid surgery, which is done on one or both eyelids. In these procedures, Drs. Mehan or Johnson remove excess skin and tighten the underlying muscles. Fat is usually repositioned and not removed so that the patient doesn’t acquire a hollow look. Bags below the lower eyelid are improved. This surgery can take about a decade off the patient’s facial age.

How Is Eyelid Surgery Done?

Drs. Mehan and Johnson both have extensive experience with this delicate surgery. Patients can opt to have surgery done on either the upper or lower eyelid, or both. For that reason, the surgery can take from 45 minutes to two hours.

On the upper eyelid, a small incision is made in the natural crease of the eyelid. This conceals any visible scarring. Muscles are tightened as needed, fat is repositioned, and excess skin is trimmed. Unless there is an abundance of fat, the fat is repositioned rather than removed. This avoids the hollow look that you may have seen from other botched procedures. Repositioning the fat creates the natural look that we seek in every procedure we perform at Dominion.

On the lower eyelid, we place the incision just below the lower eyelash or sometimes within the inside of the eyelid. This depends on the patient’s eyelid characteristics. Additional excess skin may be removed on the lower eyelid if it is causing puffiness and excessive wrinkling beneath the eye.

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WHO IS A GOOD CANDIDATE FOR EYELID SURGERY?

If you’re over the age of 40, you’re probably a good candidate for this surgery. And that’s both women and men. Eyelid surgery is becoming more popular with men because aging on the eyes shows no preference to one gender over the other. Men feel the need to have the procedure to keep up with younger counterparts at the office.

People choose eyelid surgery often because the eyes are the focal point of the face, and they don’t like the older impression their eyes are sending out.

Good candidates for blepharoplasty still have good tone in their facial muscles and tissue. Most candidates are 40 or older. Only people with eye diseases are not able to have eyelid surgery, at least until the condition has been addressed.

How Soon After My Eyelid Surgery Will I See My Results?

Your results are immediate and permanent, as you would expect. But you will have some swelling for the first few days, so you won’t be able to appreciate your final results immediately. But, after a week or so, you’ll see the difference. From there, you will have some residual swelling, but this resolves pretty quickly. At that point, you’ll enjoy your new younger eyes.

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How Long Will My Results Last?

While the changes made in your surgery with Dr. Mehan or Dr. Johnson are permanent, of course they won’t stop the march of time. Your eyes will continue to age and tissues will sag to a degree. But, they will begin aging from a much younger starting point. The excess skin removed and the tightening of the muscles involved will deliver results that last the rest of your life.

What Are The Risks With Eyelid Surgery?

Blepharoplasty is one of the most popular cosmetic surgeries every year because it delivers great results and the risks are very low. Still, there are the usual risks with any surgery: excessive bleeding, poor wound healing, reaction to anesthesia, and the like. Specific to this surgery, risks involve injury to the eye muscles, difficulty closing your eyelids, and potential dry eye. These are all very rare; this is an effective, safe procedure.

WHAT IS RECOVERY LIKE FROM EYELID SURGERY?

Eyelid surgery is very satisfying for our Dominion patients because it delivers dramatic results that, well, aren’t dramatic. What that means is, unless you’ve told people about your surgery they won’t have any idea you had anything done — they’ll only know that you look somehow younger and more alert.

Another plus to eyelid surgery is that the recovery is not difficult. In fact, recovering from eyelid surgery is one of the easier cosmetic surgery recoveries. After your procedure, you’ll return home, and we’ll have provided you with a cold compress and some lubricant eye drops. If you diligently use the compress you can keep swelling and bruising to a minimum. Pain is not intense after this procedure; it can usually be handled with over-the-counter medication. After one week, your stitches will be removed and your eyelid recovery is usually mostly complete. You may have some on again, off again light swelling, but this resolves in a few weeks. You can usually return to work in just 3-5 days.