As you age, your skin gradually loses its elasticity, causing your eyelids to stretch and the muscles supporting them to weaken. The result is that the signs of aging become increasingly evident as time goes on. If you’re noticing droopy, sagging skin or folds start to appear on your eyelids, they can be addressed with a blepharoplasty procedure at Salas Plastic Surgery in Miami, FL.
Blepharoplasty FAQs
Can Eyelid Surgery Make My Eyes Look Bigger?
Eyelid surgery can help make your eyes look bigger by removing the droopy, sagging tissue in the corners of your eyes. What it cannot do, however, is change the overall size of your eyes. Surgery can make them look bigger by removing excess skin, but it cannot actually make them bigger; your genetics dictates the size of your eyes.
What Causes Droopy Eyelids?
Dermatochalasis
Dermatochalasis is a condition caused by excess skin resulting in puffy, droopy eyelids. Eyelid surgery is the treatment recommended for dermatochalasis and fatty prolapse. The procedure involves the removal of excess skin, muscle, and fat from the eyelid. When the procedure is complete, your drooping eyelids will have been addressed and any excess tissues removed. The result is a set of bright, youthful, rejuvenated eyes.
Ptosis
Ptosis is a drooping eyelid caused by a weakening or detaching of the tendon that raises the eyelid. To address ptosis, the muscle that elevates the eyelid is shortened or reattached. It can be performed by itself as a stand-alone procedure or added to a full blepharoplasty as is normally done.
Fatty Prolapse
A fatty prolapse is when the tissue around your eyes becomes relaxed enough to allow normal fatty tissue to bulge forward. This effect usually occurs as a result of aging and not any medical issues with the eyes themselves.
Brow Ptosis
Your eyelids aren’t the only things that can be affected by ptosis. When it happens in your brow, over time it can result in drooping eyebrows which can contribute to droopy eyelids. Patients who suffer from brow ptosis can have their issue addressed surgically with the removal of excess skin and subcutaneous tissue.
What Is a Blepharoplasty Procedure?
It is a surgical procedure designed to address droopy eyelids and bags beneath the eyes. During the procedure, a surgeon removes excess skin, muscle, and in some cases fat that may be causing your eyelids to sag. The procedure is elective, meaning candidates can choose whether to have it done or not.
Who Is a Candidate for an Eyelid Lift?
Ideal candidates are those who are in good general health and have no serious medical issues, particularly around the eyes. Being a non-smoker, or someone who is able to refrain from using tobacco products in the weeks leading up to, and after, the procedure is necessary. Nicotine tends to thin the blood and can cause increased bleeding.
Having realistic expectations is also a key requisite for the ideal candidate. The procedure can dramatically improve your appearance, but it can’t stop you from aging altogether. The good news is that you won’t look like your pre-surgery self any time soon. Your eyes will look years younger after your surgery, and they will begin to age from there, meaning it will take several years until you reach a similar degree of aging on your eyelids than you had when you came in.
What Are the Benefits of Eyelid Blepharoplasty Surgery?
While eyelid surgery is more or less a cosmetic, elective procedure, there are some additional benefits the procedure can provide aside from meeting your cosmetic goals.
Obtain a Youthful Definition of Your Eyelids
The skin around your eyelids is thinner than anywhere else on your body and is, therefore, the most susceptible to the signs of aging. When this thin, sometimes crepey, extra skin is removed, the result will be a more youthful appearance as wrinkles and sagging skin are addressed in the upper and lower eyelids.
You Will Look Less Stressed-Out and Tired
The eyes are telling and usually show the first signs of stress and fatigue before the rest of your body catches up.
The goal of blepharoplasty surgery is to reduce the amount of excess skin around your eyes as well as any dark circles or bulges. These can cause you to look more tired and stressed out than you actually are. Once the excess fat and skin are removed and any dark circles or bulges are addressed, you’ll be left with rejuvenated, youthful-looking eyelids.
It Helps Keep Your Eyes Moist
When your eyelids begin to droop, the issues it can cause are more than just cosmetic. Many people suffering from drooping skin around their eyes have their upper eyelids turn inward or fold. When this happens, your eyelashes come in frequent contact with your eye and can result in irritation. Additionally, it can cause abrasions on your cornea which can lead to inflammation and scarring.
Choosing to undergo cosmetic surgery early on can avoid the discomfort associated with inward-folding eyelids. If you’re already having trouble with eyes that are either too dry or too watery, the procedure can help correct these if the cause is drooping eyelids.
Can the Procedure Enhance My Peripheral Vision?
The surgery has the potential to vastly improve your peripheral vision – but only if it was caused by drooping skin or excess fat. It cannot give you better peripheral vision than you had before your eyelids started aging.
How Old Do You Need to Be?
The unwanted appearance of droopy, saggy eyelids can develop over time as your body ages, but they can also be the result of heredity. Age really isn’t much of a factor when it comes to a patient’s satisfaction with the procedure. Very few patients in their 20s are interested in the procedure unless their issues are hereditary and seriously bothering them.
What matters most is how you feel about the state of your eyes and whether or not surgery is going to help. If so, the most important thing is that our patients are happy with their results and can leave our office feeling confident.
Will It Significantly Alter the Way I Look?
The procedure will alter the way you look insofar as it corrects the issues you’re experiencing regarding your eyelids. If you’re worried it will make you unrecognizable – don’t be. Most people close to you won’t even notice that you had the surgery unless you tell them. Your eyes will look like they did in years prior before your body started aging – but they’re still your eyes.
When it comes to cosmetic surgery, the aim is to enhance your appearance. It is not, however, intended to make you look like someone else and few surgeries have anywhere near as drastic an effect. You never have to fear that you won’t look like yourself after choosing cosmetic surgery to enhance your appearance.
Are the Results Permanent?
The goal of the surgery is to create a permanent crease in your eyelid. For the most part, the benefits of blepharoplasty will last a long time, and very few clients feel the need to come in to have it done again. When fat is removed from your body during surgery, it won’t come back. However, your skin will still age and will eventually get looser and possibly start to sag again.
Generally, it takes a while for the aging process to catch up with cosmetic surgery. Cosmetic procedures can last for years, and an eyelid lift is no different. The crease created is permanent, but the aging process will continue.
How Long Is the Procedure?
The length of the procedure depends on your cosmetic goals and the state of your eyes. You’ll discuss with your provider where the new crease in your eyelids should go, and the more complex the surgery the longer it’s going to take. Usually, the surgery takes anywhere between an hour and an hour and a half.
Do I Have to Stay Overnight?
Blepharoplasty is an elective procedure that can greatly improve the look of your eyes and turn back the clock on aging. It is not, however, a particularly invasive surgery. Once it’s complete, you will be able to rest in another area and, when you feel ready you can go. From the moment you walk in the door to the moment you walk out usually takes between three and four hours.
Can I Drive Myself Home?
Being healthy enough to leave the office and being healthy enough to drive are two very different things. You should never drive yourself home after surgery – particularly on your eyes. You will need to have someone available to drive you home after surgery and stay with you overnight if no one else can.
How Long Until I Can See the Results?
It usually takes about two to three weeks for a patient to be able to look normal. Some patients will be on the sooner end of the spectrum and others will be on the later one. It depends on your body and how fast it heals itself.
After two to three weeks, you’ll start to get an idea of how you’re going to look. But, the improvements won’t stop there. Your treatment area will continue to improve over the following weeks and months. You’ll be able to evaluate your final results after one year, though you’ll likely be looking and feeling fabulous far sooner.
Can This Be Combined With Other Procedures?
Patients looking for more dramatic results often inquire whether they can undergo more than one procedure or treatment at a time. Since the eyelids are already being worked on, it makes sense to undergo another procedure along with your eyelid lift. Procedures commonly paired with an eyelid lift include a forehead lift, facelift, liposuction, and others. When you have more than one procedure done at once you can save a lot of time required to meet your cosmetic goals.
Don’t Rule Out Injectables
If the signs of aging around other areas of your face and neck are not as advanced as your eyelids, you don’t have to undergo another surgical procedure just to try and save time. We provide several injectable options that can produce significant results when it comes to smoothing fine lines and wrinkles and rejuvenating your skin. All of our injectables are administered personally by Dr. Salas.
Is a Blepharoplasty for You?
Blepharoplasty miami is an elective surgical procedure designed to address droopy, sagging eyelids, puffy dark circles, or excess fat that may be causing you to look more tired and stressed than you actually are. It cannot make your eyes bigger than they naturally are, but by removing excess skin and fat, it can make them appear larger. It will rejuvenate your eyes and give you the youthful look you’ve been dreaming of.
If you’re not happy with the skin around your eyes and you’d like to see which options are available, call us at Salas Plastic Surgery in Miami, FL at 305-928-7757 to schedule an appointment.
