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Procedure guide
Eyelid surgery, or blepharoplasty, removes or repositions skin, muscle and fat of the upper lids, the lower lids or both. ASPS member surgeons performed 120,755 eyelid surgeries in 2024, the second most common cosmetic operation after liposuction.
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Plastic and cosmetic surgery practices, and eye and face surgeons whose website names eyelid surgery. Dot size is Google reviews. Tap a practice for its dossier.
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The operation
Blepharoplasty comes from the Greek blepharon, eyelid, and plassein, to form. Upper blepharoplasty manages the skin, orbital septum, fat and any ptosis of the upper lid. It is done for cosmetic or functional reasons, often both.
The upper lid is reached through an incision in the natural crease. The lower lid is reached through an incision just below the lash line, or through a transconjunctival incision on the inside of the lid, where no skin is removed.
Lower lid surgery has moved from removing fat to keeping it. Removing fat can leave a hollow lid, so surgeons now often move the fat over the orbital rim into the tear trough, release ligaments and support the outer corner with a canthopexy.
Women had about 85% of blepharoplasties in the US in 2014 and 88% in the UK. A drooping lid from a stretched lid muscle is ptosis, and a low brow can make the upper lid look heavy: each needs its own repair.
What it changes
What it does not change
The guide
Upper and lower blepharoplasty, transconjunctival surgery, fat repositioning, ptosis repair and double eyelid surgery: how each one works.
OpenSkin, orbicularis muscle, septum, fat pads, levator and tarsus, and what each operation changes.
OpenFrom the first double eyelid operation in 1896 to fat repositioning and the vision loss surveys.
OpenDay by day after surgery, the risks in numbers and how long results last.
OpenAnswers to the questions patients ask most, with sources.
OpenFlorida eyelid surgery surgeons ranked, with their dossiers.
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