Eyelid Surgery

Proudly serving Springfield, Missouri, communities in Southwest Missouri, and Rogers, Bentonville, and Fayetteville in Northwest Arkansas.

Your eyes are your widows to the world. They also reflect your mood, telling people you are happy, tired, curious, awed, or perplexed. When the eyes show telltale signs of aging, they may affect the way you are perceived by giving people the wrong impression of your mood.
Eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty) is one of the most popular facial plastic surgery procedures available. The procedure gives countless men and woman each year a renewed sense of self confidence. If you are concerned with sagging upper eyelid skin or bags beneath your eyes, blepharoplasty may
be right for you.

Upper Eyelid Surgery

In upper eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty), individual lines and creases of the lids are marked in order to keep the scars as invisible as possible along the natural folds. The incision is made, and excess fat, muscle, and loose skin are removed. We use fine sutures to close the incisions, minimizing the visibility of any resulting scar.

Upper blepharoplasty should be considered when the upper lid skin hangs over the eyes. If the overhang becomes extreme, then it may become difficult to put on eye makeup, and vision may also be affected. Blepharoplasty for visual obstruction is one of the only conditions that may be covered by medical insurance.

Note: Sometimes what appears to be sagging of the upper eyelids is actually from drooping of the brow, and can be corrected by a brow lift. During your blepharoplasty consultation, we can determine which procedure will best meet your needs.

Lower Eyelid Surgery

In lower eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty), we may determine that the fat in the lower eyelid needs to be removed to give the most pleasing result. If this is the case, we will perform a procedure called a transconjunctival blepharoplasty, where an incision is made either behind the lower eyelid or just below the eyelashes, where it is inconspicuous, and the excess fat is trimmed away. If there is a large amount of excess skin or muscle, we may choose to make an internal incision. When sutures are used to close this kind of incision, they are invisible to the eye. They are also self-dissolving and leave no visible scar.

For patients with wrinkles of the lower eyelid skin, we can also smooth the skin simultaneously during blepharoplasty with CO² laser skin resurfacing or a deep phenol peel. To remove loose, excess lower eyelid skin, we may also use what is known as a "pinch technique."

Lower Blepharoplasty with Fat Repositioning

We may recommend that the fat in your lower eyelids be preserved and repositioned to reduce the loss of volume that can sometimes give a hollowed look to the eyes. Lower blepharoplasty with fat-repositioning gives patients a natural, refreshed look that will retain the youthful fullness in the area under the eyes.

In lower blepharoplasty with fat-repositioning, the incision is also made inside the lower eyelid, but instead of removing the excess fat, it is repositioned and secured with sutures. Special tape worn on the skin to hold the sutures in place is removed at the one week post-operative visit.

Recovery

For a week following blepharoplasty, you will be required to clean the eye area daily and apply ointment as directed. Patients can often return to work in a week or less after eyelid surgery. Lower eyelid surgery with fat-repositioning may require a slightly longer recovery period. During your one-week blepharoplasty post-op visit your surgeon will remove any permanent sutures used during surgery; self-absorbing sutures will dissolve on their own.

Ready to schedule a consultation?

If you would like to meet with a facial cosmetic surgeon, contact our Springfield, MO or Rogers, AR facial plastic surgery center today. We would be happy to help you schedule a consultation with one of our surgeons.