Eyelid Surgery – Lower

Are your eyes still one of the most striking features on your face? Do they convey your actual emotions and inner vitality, or do they make you appear fatigued, sad, or older than you feel? Eyelid surgery, also known as blepharoplasty, may be performed on the upper eyelids, the lower eyelids, or both. This animation describes lower eyelid blepharoplasty, which reduces the appearance of puffiness and bags underneath the eyes.

 

Introduction

Are your eyes still one of the most striking features on your face? Do they convey your actual emotions and inner vitality, or do they make you appear fatigued, sad, or older than you feel? Eyelid surgery, also known as blepharoplasty, may be performed on the upper eyelids, the lower eyelids, or both. This animation describes lower eyelid blepharoplasty, which reduces the appearance of puffiness and bags underneath the eyes.

 

What Causes Eyelids to Change?

The skin on your lower eyelid is very thin, especially toward the center of your eye. A layer of muscle is located just beneath the eyelid skin and is separated from the fat by a thin tissue membrane, called the orbital septum. Muscle layers and the orbital septum weaken and sag with age and fat deposits shift in response to weakened tissues, causing puffiness and bags under the eyes. In addition, changes occur in the skin itself. The collagen and elastin that provide support to the skin break down over time, causing the skin to lose elasticity and become lax.

 

Procedure Variations

There are two variations of the procedure for removing or repositioning fat deposits from beneath the eyes: outside and inside lower eyelid surgery. For those who have excess skin beneath the eyes, the outside lower eyelift, also called transcutaneous lower blepharoplasty, is appropriate. This variation is performed with incisions on the outside of the lower eyelid and removes excess skin and sometimes muscle tissue in addition to fat deposits beneath the eyes. An inside lower eyelid lift, also called transconjunctival blepharoplasty, involves a single incision inside the eyelid in the thin membrane that lines the inside of the eyelid, called the conjunctiva. This procedure is appropriate for patients with fatty deposits and little or no excess skin in the lower eyelids.