I tell patients all the time that one of the facial plastic surgery procedures that provides the most ‘bang for the buck’ is upper eyelid lift surgery. This particular case example highlights this point precisely. This male patient from San Diego, CA presented to our clinic with a desire to have his upper eyelids enhanced. He simply wanted to have more definition along the upper eyelid region along with improved symmetry. As you can see from the adjacent preoperative photo diagram, his right upper eyelid was more droopy than his left. We often describe this in terms of excess heaviness of the upper eyelid. In some cases, this excess upper eyelid skin can even hang down onto the actual eyelash line, completely obliterating any sign of the normal upper eyelid crease. In this particular case, the patient was an ethnic male who had moderately thick skin. This matters because thicker, ethnic skin does not necessarily heal as quickly and nicely as thin, fair skin does when it comes to facial plastic surgery. But with excellent surgical technique, successful results can be achieved even in ethnic upper eyelid lift patients. We discussed in detail this patient’s desire to have more definition along the upper eyelid region as well as more symmetric upper eyelids. This would require an upper eyelid lift procedure, also known as a blepharoplasty (pronounced blef-are-o-plasty). Fortunately, this type of facial cosmetic eyelid surgery can be performed essentially under local anesthesia. Meaning, the only thing necessary is injection of a numbing agent along the upper eyelid region – similar to what is used when going to the dentist. In rare cases we will also provide an oral sedative, but this is only for those patients who are prone to anxiety. The actual upper eyelid lift surgery takes approximately 45 minutes to an hour to be completed. This typically involves taking the excess upper eyelid skin away and carefully sewing the upper eyelid skin together to recreate a nice, new, defined upper eyelid crease. A good majority of the incision (and, therefore, scar) is hidden in the natural upper eyelid skin crease so that there is very little sign of having had and upper eyelid lift. There is some swelling and mild bruising of the eyelid region for about 3-4 days with most patients seeing resolution of this by the end of the week. Most patients will return to their normal daily activities 6-7 days following an upper eyelid lift procedure. The following series demonstrates this particular ethnic, male patient’s upper eyelid lift before and after photos. As you can see, he has a nice overall improvement in terms of the upper eyelid region. His upper eyelid crease is now more defined and symmetric when looking at both sides. Taking a step back, you get the sense as well that he is just looks more rested. He still looks like the same person – just a more rejuvenated version of himself. If you are interested in having an upper eyelid lift procedure performed, contact our San Diego facial plastic surgery office today!
