UPPER BLEPHAROPLASTY: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
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Today we discuss the increasingly popular eyelid surgery that can help rejuvenate your eyes. Do your eyes look tired or sad? Do you find it difficult to open them? Have you lost part of your visual field? Read on and we will explain everything.
Let us begin by understanding the skin around our eyes. Eyelid skin has unique characteristics that distinguish it from the rest of the skin on the face and body. These are important to consider from both an aesthetic and a health perspective, as they influence how it ages and responds to treatments and procedures.
- Eyelid skin is the thinnest skin on the body. This thinness makes it more susceptible to wrinkles and loss of elasticity with age.
- Although thin, eyelid skin is quite elastic, allowing the constant movement needed for blinking and facial expressions. However, this elasticity can decrease over time, leading to problems such as drooping eyelids (ptosis) and bags under the eyes.
- Eyelid skin tends to swell easily due to fluid accumulation, which can occur for various reasons, including allergies, lack of sleep, salt intake and underlying health problems.
Now that we understand our skin, let us see how we can treat it when changes around the eyes make everyday life more difficult.
The blepharoplasty is surgery to remove excess skin and sometimes fat from the eyelids. Its main aim is to improve the appearance of the area around the eyes, although it can also serve functional purposes, such as improving vision if drooping eyelids interfere with it.
What should I do before surgery?
Eyelid skin is exposed, and we often forget to clean and care for it. Cleaning the eyelids with cleansing wipes 48 hours beforehand is recommended, and you should come to the operating theatre without make-up.
What does the procedure involve?
The surgery removes excess skin or fat through minimal incisions along the eyelid creases, leaving virtually invisible scars. It is personalised surgery, designed around each patient's characteristics. The duration of the procedure is one hour approximately, and both eyes are operated on at the same time. The patient lies on the operating table, and local anaesthesia is used, meaning anaesthesia in the eyelids. Afterwards, no hospital admission is required, as this is a day-case procedure.
Can there be complications?
The surgery is very safe but is not without complications, although these are very uncommon. Possible complications include infection, bleeding, dry eyes, difficulty closing the eyes, visible scarring or the need for further surgery. This is why a prior eye assessment is very important to rule out and minimise potential complications.
What care is needed after the procedure?
The most common symptoms after the procedure are bruising and swelling. Applying cold locally in the immediate postoperative period is therefore very important, and in some cases we may recommend oral anti-inflammatory medicines and painkillers. Bleeding may also occur, but it is very uncommon.
Recovery time also varies from person to person, but we can say that results begin to appear after a week or ten days. This is when the stitches are removed. A month after the procedure, everyday activities such as going to the gym and/or swimming pool, as well as wearing make-up, can be resumed.
Results are assessed a month after the procedure, when before-and-after photographs are compared. Blepharoplasty is a relatively straightforward technique in expert hands, and its results have brought satisfaction to millions of people.
Blepharoplasty can significantly rejuvenate the appearance of the face and improve self-confidence. If you are considering this procedure, it is important to consult a qualified ophthalmic surgeon to discuss your aims and expectations and receive a complete assessment of your case.
See also our information about Blepharoplasty.
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