35 Year Old Female.
Am I a Suitable Candidate for Blepharoplasty?
The appearance of my eyelids was always rather full.
In recent years I am experiencing strong fluid retention (during sleep) that is increasingly
uncomfortable (e.g. pressure on eyeballs) and a lot of extra skin which leaves my eyes
looking tired and unfriendly.
Would I be a suitable candidate for blepharoplasty and if yes, would the removal of excess fat
prevent future fluid retention?
Please advise suitable technique and whether or not other causes for these symptoms should
be considered.
Thank you for your question!
At the age of 35, you are describing a history where you're having some swelling issues in
terms of swelling around the eyes and the feeling of pressure that is constant and chronic.
And I want to, before discussing the surgical options to improve the appearance of your
eyes, I want to mention a little about diagnosing what's going on.
The reality is that it is unusual to have a significant amount of swelling around the
eyes that they've developed real pressure healing.
So, as an oculofacial plastic surgeon with an original training first in ophthalmology
before specialty training in plastic surgery of the eye, I want to just to put your attention
to a condition called thyroid-immune orbitopathy or a condition referred to as Grave's disease.
I'm not saying that the symptoms you have automatically means you have Grave's disease
but there are many people whose first symptoms of thyroid eye disease are swelling, congestion
and variability.
Their eyes swell, sometimes they have trouble with double vision and for some people, it
happens very slowly and so they realize that something is not right with their eyes.
So, what I would recommend for you first is to see a medical doctor, see an endocrinologist,
see an eye doctor, an ophthalmologist and maybe even consider getting some imaging studies
based on your doctor's evaluations so that you can rule out this cause as your symptoms.
Other things that can cause these types of symptoms include sinus problems and allergies.
So certainly seeing an Eye, ear, nose doctor can also help you at least manage the swelling
issues.
You see, when you're dealing with cosmetic surgery, you're dealing with the tissues in
a very specific way but you are not treating an underlying problem.
So if you have any systemic issue, managing that will only make any cosmetic procedure
any much better.
So again, let's rule out thyroid-eye disease.
If we reach a point where everything is ruled out, everything is clear and essentially you
just have some swelling that's related to some allergies or sinus issues that can be
managed, then from the photos you submitted, I think it's worthwhile to consider upper
eyelid blepharoplasty and lower eyelid blepharoplasty.
Essentially, upper eyelid blepharoplasty is a procedure where excess skin over the eyelid
or fullness of the skin as well as soft tissue and fat is sculpted and reduced so that the
eyes appear more open or awake.
For the lower eyelids, it's typically the reduction or reorientation of fat pockets
so that they don't look puffy and in some cases, the reduction of the skin and tightening
of the support.
Now instead of getting into deep details of these procedures, I'm going to suggest to
you to do a little research before you choose a doctor to do your eyelid surgery when you're
ready for it.
And the reason is this.
As a specialist, I get to see a number of patients who are not exactly happy with their
eyelid surgery done elsewhere and in the 20 years of doing this, I learned that there
is sometimes an over simplification of eyelid surgery.
People say that they had their face done, their nose done and their eyes.
And I know many doctors and capable of doing a good eyelid procedure, I would say a smaller
group is able to do a great procedure.
And so, the artistry and the subtlety of how the patterns are drawn and the plan and the
execution of these procedures, there's a lot more to it.
So just to be aware that one size doesn't fit all and it's not a generic procedure.
So when you're ready, just learn a little bit more about your options.
So again, rule-out any thyroid-related issues and do some research then pick the right specialist
to help you with your eyes.
I hope that was helpful and thank you for your question!