Sagging skin and wrinkles around the eyes can make a person look older than their years. Often, when you look older, you feel older, too. Cosmetic eyelid surgery, or blepharoplasty, offers a way for those with baggy eyes to improve their appearance and restore that youthful feeling.
Eyelid Surgery - What to Expect
Cosmetic eyelid surgery is fairly simple. Your cosmetic surgeon will mark your face to plan for his incisions, and you will be placed under anesthesia. Depending on your specific issues, an incision will be placed in either the crease of the lower or upper eyelid, or just below the lash line. This allows removal of excess skin and fatty tissue, or restructuring of the tissues into a more desirable appearance. Though the duration of the operation may vary, the procedure is usually over relatively quickly, and the results are lasting. This is not something that will have to be redone in a few years' time.
Eyelid Surgery Recovery
There is a short recovery time as compared to other cosmetic surgery procedures. You will likely be prescribed an ointment to put around your eyes, and in some cases an anti-inflammatory medication. You can expect to have bruising around the eyes that should fade within about the first week, and swelling that will subside in the first month. Incision lines take longer to fade, about one year, but are placed in areas where they are not readily noticeable.
As with all cosmetic surgery procedures, blepharoplasty is not completely without risk, though it is considered to be a safe procedure. There is the possibility that there will be unattractive scarring, infection of the incisions or eyes, negative reaction to the anesthesia, and mild vision loss. This is also an expensive procedure, and cosmetic surgeries are not covered under most insurance plans, so take the cost into consideration. The risks and benefits should be carefully weighed before deciding to pursue cosmetic eyelid surgery. To learn more about the procedure, consult an
experienced plastic surgeon.