Eyelifts (Blepharoplasty)

Eyelifts also called Eyelid surgery or Blepharoplasty is a surgical procedure to remove fat--usually along with excess skin and muscle from the upper and lower eyelids. Nationally, during 2005, there were 230,697 Eyelifts procedures performed, which is a 30% decline in the number of procedure performed in 2000. This surgery can correct puffy eyes and dropping eyelids, this means getting rid of those bags under you eyes that make you look tired all the time. What this surgery will not do for you is get rid of crows feet or other age wrinkles.

The best candidates for this procedure are people that are over the age of 35 and are in good general physical health. It is also important that they also be in good mental health and that they have realistic expectations for the final out come will be. The most common complication to any plastic surgery is that of the patients results not living up to their unrealistic expectations. This can be avoided by having meetings with your surgeon and talking about what you can expect and what you should not expect to happen.

When you are looking for a doctor to perform your Blepharoplasty you will want to first make sure that they are a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon. Then you should check with the state to make sure they have not had any complaints about them. Talk to former patients of theirs to see how they feel about the work they had done. Then go and see them, look around their office and see how you feel being there. Is this doctor easy to talk to and do they listen or are they busy pushing additional surgery that you don’t want?

The procedure will have many of the same risks of any other surgery and you should be sure that you can physically handle the surgery. Additionally you can expect to have double or blurred vision for a few days after the procedure. In some cases the patient may have problems closing their eyelids when sleeping and in even rarer case this could be permanent. While these kinds of complications may be rare it is still wise to know all the risks. You can speak with your surgeon about more specific risks that you may face given your own health condition.

Prior to your surgery they will assess your vision and tear production to be able to compare it to post surgical condition. It is at this time that the surgeon will talk to you about the goals of the surgery and if any additional procedure will be required or not. The surgery itself will be performed in the doctors office and under local anesthesia, which will numb the eyelids and the surrounding tissue. You can expect to be awake during this procedure but you will not feel any pain, if you do remember to let them know right away. If you and your surgeon feel it is appropriate for you than they may use general anesthesia and you will sleep through the procedure.

Depending on the amount of surgery that is required it should take about three hours to complete the procedure. The surgeon generally makes the incision in the natural creases of the eyelids for the upper eyelid. They will also make their incision beneath your lower eyelid by pulling it out so that the incision is not visible. They then remove the fat deposits and extra skin to make the eyes look younger again. After the surgery is completed you can expect bruising to occur. Bruising is very common and can last for a couple of weeks after the procedure. During this time you can also expect your eyes to be gummy and you will be shown how to clean and care for them.

The use of eye drops are also recommended by most doctors during the healing process, at least for the first week or so. Generally speaking the amount of time required for complete healing will vary depending on your age and general health. Generally speaking the younger you are and the better your health the faster you are likely to heal. The general rule of thumb is that 4-6 weeks can be expected for complete healing. Those you should follow your doctors recommendations to achieve the best results.

You can expect that it will take 2-3 days before you can read or watch TV comfortably. It will be at least two weeks before you will be able to wear your contact lenses comfortably. You should be able to resume your normal sedimentary activities in about 7-10 days. You can get back to doing all the things you would normally do in about three weeks after the surgery. If you went into it with realistic expectations and followed the doctors recommendations you should be happy with the end results.