As we age, the tone and shape of our eyelids can loosen and sag. Heredity and sun exposure also contribute to this process. This excess, puffy, or lax skin can make you appear more tired or older than you are. Surgery to treat these problems is called “blepharoplasty.” Removing excess skin and bulging fat from the upper or lower eyelids can give the eyes a more youthful appearance. If the sagging upper eyelid skin obstructs peripheral vision, blepharoplasty can also expand the visual field.

For the upper eyelids, excess skin and fat are removed through an incision hidden in the natural eyelid crease. If the lid is droopy, the muscle that raises the upper lid can be tightened. The incision is then closed with fine sutures. Fat in the lower eyelids can be removed or repositioned through an incision hidden on the inner surface of the eyelid. If there is also excessive skin and wrinkling in the lower lid, the incision is made just below the lashes. Fat can be removed or repositioned through this incision, and the excess skin removed. The incision is then closed with fine sutures.

Asian Blepharoplasty
Asian blepharoplasties have been reported to be the most common aesthetic procedure in Taiwan and other parts of East Asia.

Asian blepharoplasty is also known as “double eyelid surgery” because a “second” eyelid crease is created from an eyelid without a crease. This gives the typical Asian eyelid a Westernized appearance. Anatomically, there are a number of differences in the upper eyelids of East Asians compared with the differences in the eyelids of other races.

Several methods can be used to create the double eyelid–including the full-incisional, partial incision and no incision methods (e.g. the DST method). The technique chosen depends on the patient’s preference for the new eyelid crease height and downtime.