Is It Safe to Have Blepharoplasty Surgery?

Blepharoplasty is a popular plastic surgery that plays an essential role in facial rejuvenation. Upper and lower eyelid blepharoplasty is designated for dealing with the excess skin and orbital fat in eyelids.

This operation is made especially for aesthetic purposes, but sometimes it could be made for more functional reasons.

As everyone knows, eyes give the most realistic sign of our age. Our eyelids could become droopy, bags could start to appear under our eyes, the eye skin could lose its elasticity, and all of these changes help our appearance look older and tired. Especially for the droopy eyelids, blepharoplasty is one of the best solutions among other alternatives such as non-surgical radio frequency or resurfacing with the laser.

Thanks to improved plastic surgery again, there are many successful eyelid operations that remove all of those old and tired looks and provide a new, younger, and energetic appearance to our eyes.
In this article, we are going to find answers to your questions about this magical operation.

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Before the Operation

Am I A Good Candidate for This Operation?

In order to understand your suitability, you should visit your surgeon first and tell him/her all of your background medical story, your harmful habits, your daily medicines, your eye health condition, and of course your exact expectations from the operation. To give an idea, the one who is older than 35, younger than 70, has a good general state of health, and doesn’t have hypertension, high eye pressure, thyroid disease or eye dryness. You may also be a good candidate for blepharoplasty unless you smoke or have any chronic illnesses that can affect your recovery.

How Much Should Blepharoplasty Surgery Cost?

The cost of a blepharoplasty surgery is starting from € 1,200, but it depends on the scope of the operation. You may have the only upper lid or only lower lid operation; you may have only fat removal if your skin is already stretch and will not be sagging or you may only need to lift your eyelids without any fat or muscle extraction. These options affect the level of the blepharoplasty cost. The most important thing that you should make no concessions on quality by focusing on the lowest price. You need to think that you would have this operation at the hands of a well-experienced surgeon and a fully equipped clinic.

During the Operation

Can Blepharoplasty Surgery Be Done Under Local Anesthesia?

Although this operation is sometimes performed using general anesthesia, it is often performed under local anesthesia. Some surgeons prefer general anesthesia especially for the lower lid blepharoplasty, as distorting soft tissue anatomy may be occurred when injecting of local anesthesia into the lower lid.

How Is Blepharoplasty Performed?

Blepharoplasty surgery lasts 1-3 hours. During a blepharoplasty surgery for all eyelids, the surgeon will probably start with the upper lids. After the anesthesia is applied, the surgeon makes the surgical cuts along the natural lines of your eyelids. Through these cuts, your skin is separated from the underlying tissue. Then the surgeon removes the excess fat and skin. Lastly, your surgical cuts are closed with very small stitches. Upper lids' stitches usually stay for three to six days. However, the lower lids may not require stitches, depending on the technique used by your surgeon.

Does Blepharoplasty Hurt, Leave Scars? Is It Painful? Or Safe?

These are the most asked questions about this operation. Because of the sensitivity of the eyes and supraorbital, the risks could be thinking more than other plastic surgeries. In fact, this is one of the easier operations for the surgeon. Except for the general surgical complications and risks, there is not so much risky situation facing within this operation. The patient does not feel any pain during the operation. There will be no scars on the eyes because the surgeon hides them in the eyelid creases.

Will Blepharoplasty Get Rid Of Wrinkles?

There are many treatments for lower eye wrinkles from Botox to blepharoplasty or laser treatment. The best way to know and decide what is most appropriate for you is to have a consultation with a plastic surgeon and to learn his or her recommendation.

Does Blepharoplasty Last Forever Or Can Be Done Twice?

If you have one blepharoplasty surgery for 4 eyelids and get rid of the excess fats, droopy look, and upper lid bags, you will not need to have another operation for correcting the same deformities. However, blepharoplasty cannot, of course, stop the aging, therefore if you have a new droopiness or under-eye bag problem, you may have another operation. Although eyelid surgery is usually a one-time procedure, if you don’t satisfy with the results, or if your eyelids don’t heal properly, you may need follow-up surgeries or any other related procedure such as brow lift or full-face lift.

After The Operation

Does Blepharoplasty Surgery Make Eyes Smaller?

No, there will be no difference in your normal, natural eye shape. However, after the operation, as a result of getting rid of the excess skin on the eyelids, you will face with the changed appearance of your eyes. This causes misunderstanding the change of the shape in the beginning, but do not worry about it, and this is just your former fresh look.

Can Blepharoplasty Surgery Cause Dry Eyes or Affect Vision?

After the surgery, your surgeon will take precautions to avoid dryness, to decrease the swelling and to stop the pain you may have. In a couple of days, your vision may differ because of the surgery, but it is becoming normal quickly by following the recovery instructions and advises. There will be bandages covering the eyelids when the process is over, but these bands will not interrupt your vision. Moreover, if you already have a refractive error in your eyes, you can begin again wearing your contact lenses when the eyelid swelling decrease enough to allow the lenses to be comfortable. If you wear eyeglasses, you can wear them at any time after surgery but carefully.

How Long Is The Recovery Period And What Are The Actions To Be Taken After The Operation?

After eyelid surgery, you will have stitches in both eyelids (if your surgery covers both) that have to stay for about a week. Having swelling and bruising are very normal after the surgery, but your eyelids will look normal within a maximum of two weeks.

You may use cold compresses in order to control post-procedural ocular movements. You will be able to see easily your progress on these surgical effects if you compare your before and after pictures. From the third day, edema around the eye starts to decrease, and you may start your daily lighter activities. When the tapes and sutures around the eye are taken, the purple color transforms into yellow which is a sign of recovery. Yellow color can be easily hidden with light makeup until it will completely disappears.

For about 6 weeks after the operation, you should avoid heavy sports and some applications which increase the edema such as solarium, sauna, sunbath, etc. In order to avoid the negative effects of the sun, you need to wear sunglasses.
Constipation may occur after the operation as a side effect of decreased activity, use of pain medicines, and dehydration. You may have a walk and drink water regularly, and add raw fruits to your diet.