Eyelid surgery

Operation duration: 1–3 hours
Insensitive: Local or general
Post-operative care: Outpatient, same-day patient discharge home
Repeat operation: Performed one or more times, as needed and desired
Results: Long-term
Tuning: Often performed with a facelift

Eyelid surgery is recommended when the skin of the upper eyelid, which has folded into a wrinkle, covers the edge of the upper eyelid, and when „bags” form in the lower eyelid area. The eyes appear tired, angry, and have lost their liveliness and youthfulness. Eyelid correction is usually performed on individuals over 35-40 years old, but sometimes younger people need surgery when the drooping edge of the upper eyelid, due to eyelid anatomy, makes the eye feel heavy and appear smaller. Eyelid plastic surgery is performed on both men and women. It is one of the most common and simplest plastic surgeries performed.

Operation

Upper eyelids are operated on by removing excess skin with an elliptical incision. At the same time, any fat pockets that have formed are also removed. Eyelid lifts are usually performed under local anesthesia or sedation. The resulting postoperative scar is hidden in the crease of the upper eyelid.

Lower eyelid surgery can be performed in two ways: through an external incision along the edge of the lower eyelid and through an internal incision in the conjunctiva of the eyelid. The external incision is rarely used, only in cases where the patient has significant excess skin. Local anesthesia is applied in this case. Most commonly, the surgery is performed through an internal incision, inside the eyelid, so no scar remains. During the surgery, fat herniations are removed, and although excess skin is not removed, it retracts, and the puffiness disappears.

Eyelid surgery takes 1–2 hours.

After surgery

After upper eyelid surgery, the patient is discharged home one to two hours after the procedure, and stitches are removed on the fourth to fifth day after surgery. After lower eyelid surgery, the patient is also discharged the same day, but stays at the clinic longer until the effects of the anesthesia wear off.

Like other operations, eyelid correction has a postoperative period characterized by bruising and swelling, but these can be easily concealed with sunglasses. Bruising disappears within a couple of weeks, and mild swelling sometimes persists longer. All these changes are more pronounced after lower eyelid surgery. The result of eyelid plastic surgery is long-lasting. In rare cases, repeat corrections are necessary. It should be emphasized that the longevity of the result also depends heavily on the patient's lifestyle.

Dr. Gintaras Papeckis's comment

Eyelid surgery is one of the first aesthetic procedures patients decide on. Removed excess skin visibly changes the appearance of the eye. After the surgery, the gaze becomes more alert, youthful, and open. Female patients are particularly pleased that they can once again use cosmetics to highlight their eyelids.

Recently, in addition to this classic procedure, additional procedures such as fat grafting, tissue filling with „fillers,“ eyebrow lifting, etc., are performed. This further improves the aesthetic result. In this case, each surgeon adapts these measures differently (depending on their experience, understanding of aesthetics). I often additionally correct the area around the eyelids with fat grafting, perform a lift of the lateral eyebrow edge or the entire eyebrow. Then, a complete and very beautiful result is truly achieved.
Lower eyelid surgery has certain differences, although its goal is also to remove excess skin and „bags” under the eyes. Excess skin in the lower eyelid area is removed through an external incision only in very rare cases. Most often, fat hernias, which appear as bags under the eyes, are removed through an internal incision, and the skin itself retracts very effectively, and its excess disappears on its own. The result of the operation is obvious. It should be noted that in the presence of pronounced wrinkles under the eyes without clear bags, the result of the operation will be more modest – the wrinkles will decrease, but will not disappear. In such cases, to achieve better results, I recommend additional procedures (e.g., laser skin „resurfacing,“ etc.).