Turn Back Time on Your Aging Face with Blepharoplasty

Your skin is the part of the body that keeps germs, bacteria, and small particles out, and nowhere is that more useful than your eyelids. Your eyes are an essential organ to help you see the world around you, and those lids protect them from outside dangers, retain moisture, and produce tears. These thin, fatless layers of skin comprise several parts that work to keep you able to see normally.

Skin changes a lot over time, and several problems can affect the look and function of your eyelids, which can also cause bags that make you look older than you are. To restore both, a blepharoplasty is a common way to manage eyelid problems. To see what it can do for your issues, let’s look at common problems that affect this part of your face, learn some basics about blepharoplasty, and find out what the experience is like.

If you live in the Orlando or Kissimmee, Florida area and your eyelids are affecting how you see and what you look like, Drs. Wade Han, Elvira Livigni De Armas, and the team at Florida Ear Nose Throat & Facial Plastic Surgery Center can help.

Common eyelid conditions

Aging is a common issue that affects the skin, and your eyelids may lose elasticity (a decrease in collagen and elastin in the skin cells), putting more stress on your levator muscles that move them and cause them to droop. The age-related issues can also cause dermatochalasis, which causes the eyelid skin and muscles to become droopy. Other conditions that affect them include:

• Asymmetry: in some cases, uneven eyelids can indicate a thyroid disorder
• Blepharitis: red, swollen eyelids resulting from inflammation
• Blepharochalasis: an eyelid drooping due to either aging or genetics
• Blepharospasm: involuntary eye twitching and blinking from stress
• Ectropion: a weakness in the lower eyelid muscles causing sagging

The overall result from any of these problems leaves your eyelids looking more haggard and tired, giving you an older appearance and presenting other possible complications with more serious illnesses.

Facts about blepharoplasty

This is a surgery that removes excess skin from eyelids and, in some cases, repositions the tissue. It treats the drooping and sagging associated with looking older and can help prevent problem lids from obscuring your vision. It can be done simultaneously with other eye treatments like brow lifts and laser resurfacing.

You should be at least 30 years old and in generally good health to get this procedure, and we’ll need to know if you have specific medical conditions like glaucoma, a detached retina, dry eyes, thyroid disorders, hypertension, or diabetes before proceeding.

What to expect from the procedure

This outpatient procedure is done and usually starts with the upper eyelids if both are being done, and anesthetic is only used if necessary. A small cut is done to remove excess skin, muscle, and fat, with some of the material possibly being moved to areas surrounding your eye before it’s closed. With the lower lid, fat and excess skin are commonly removed to reduce signs of aging, and it may be tightened or secured to the bone.

The whole process often takes about 45 minutes, and after being observed to assess possible side effects, you’ll be free to leave. Swelling and pain can be expected, so over-the-counter pain relievers can be used. Blurred vision and light sensitivity are also possible, and if they last more than two days, come back in for treatment.

Blepharoplasty can help you look younger and improve your vision, so if you’re ready to see what it can do for you, make an appointment with Drs. Han, Livigni De Armas, and the Florida Ear Nose Throat & Facial Plastic Surgery Center staff today.