27 year old male with pretty big under eye bags.
Am I a good candidate for surgery?
For the past couple of years I have been continuously been made aware of how tired I look and if
I have been resting/sleeping well.
It really has taken a toll on me.
I've tried from cool cucumbers and many eye creams and products to sleeping with more
pillows but nothing works.
This is something that has shaken my self-confidence a bit and I've decided I want to deal with
it.
My major concerns are that I do not want to look overdone or face lifted, and my highest
priority is a natural look.
Thank you for your question!
At the age of 27, you have expressed how the puffiness under your eyes has been present
and that you have tried things like cucumber slices and it's affecting your sense of your
appearance.
I very much appreciated the photos that you sent where you looked up.
Clearly you have become aware of the volume that is under your eyes and that's causing
this bulging and how it is enhanced further by your looking upward.
So to help you understand what's going on, essentially based on the photos, it appears
you have something called lower eyelid fat prolapse.
Lower eyelid fat prolapse means that the fat that is normally around your eyes has pushed
forward and is creating a bulge.
That bulge is creating this continuous look of puffiness under your eyes.
And certainly, after 20 years of an oculoplastic cosmetic surgeon, I have heard of only the
phrase: "Tire of looking tired" so many times and it's completely understandable.
It affects how people see themselves, it affects when they look at the mirror and they feel
good and then they see the bags under their eyes and they literally feel that they look
tired and feel tired.
So it's affecting them emotionally similar to yourself so you're really not alone in
your frustration.
Understanding that this is lower eyelid fat prolapse is why there is a physical volume
that's actually pushing forward.
Naturally, the do-yourself remedy such as the cucumber slices, people use tea bags,
topical creams and of course, none of these things work.
The definitive procedure is some kind of procedure that is surgical called a lower eyelid blepharoplasty.
For most of our younger people, we perform a Transconjuctival blepharoplasty.
This is a procedure where I address the fat pockets under the eyes from the inside of
the eyelid.
This way we avoid an external scar.
We also maintain and preserve the anatomy.
Now you expressed how important it is to maintain a natural look and I think that's fantastic.
That is exactly what you should be getting in your quest for finding the right surgeon
to do this.
A natural appearance basically should look as if you never had the bags.
When people look at you, they shouldn't know that you had surgery.
When they look at you they should say that you look good or that there's something that's
changed but they couldn't figure out what and that's the idea.
And so, meeting with qualified and experienced cosmetic surgeons is an appropriate next step
for you.
In addition, when you asked the questions, look at the doctor's before and after pictures
as well as ask about the type of anesthesia.
It is my opinion that these procedures can all be performed under local anesthesia with
LITE sedation which we do in our practice and we actually trademarked a name called
LITE anesthesia.
The quick recover and limiting and minimizing the trauma and stress to your body is of highest
value in addition to the safety and natural appearance.
And so it is definitely something that can be done in that way.
Well, that's my opinion and my recommendation.
When you meet 10 surgeons, you would surely get 10 opinions but there should be some perspective
that you bring with the knowledge that you are acquiring from asking the question this
way.
So again, it's lower eyelid fat prolapse.
I usually do Transconjuctival blepharoplasty.
At times we combine it with other procedures such as the use of platelet-rich plasma which
we have been very successful in helping people with skin quality under the eyes when we perform
the lower eyelid blepharoplasty under local anesthesia with LITE IV sedation.
Again, meeting with qualified and experienced cosmetic surgeons whom you feel comfortable
with and move forward your solution.
So I hope that was helpful, I wish you the best of luck and thank you for your question!