Blepharoplasty (Cosmetic Eyelid Surgery) - Common Misconceptions

Often when people have noticeably aged and want to improve their appearance and look younger, they think about plastic surgery. Sometimes they immediately think about drastic surgeries like facelift. However, one minor procedure that can really refresh someone’s look is blepharoplasty, better known as cosmetic eyelid surgery. However, often people do not have a clear understanding of what the procedure entails and what it does not.

Blepharoplasty involves removing excess fat and skin from the eyelids. It does not correct droopy eyebrows and will not remove dark circles from under your eyes. It may be able to decrease the fatty pockets under your eyes, but the color will not change and the look will remain dark. If you get the procedure and then want to change your skin tone to a lighter look under your eyes, your plastic surgeon can talk to you about another procedure that will take care of that. You may also want to consider the fact that you could just cover your dark circles with makeup.

People often mistakenly believe that because this is an outpatient procedure, it is no big deal, and they need not think twice about getting having it performed. However, like any surgery, there are risks like infection, bruising, and pain. In rare cases, the patient may have difficulty opening and shutting the eye after surgery. There is also a slight risk of permanent damage to the eyelids. While this probably will not happen, you need to weigh the possibilities against how much you desire to have blepharoplasty performed.

Finally, people often don’t consider that they need to be in good health for this to be done. Because an anesthesia is used, a patient needs to be free of major medical problems. Also, a patient cannot have very high and uncontrolled blood pressure or serious thyroid disease as these factors can increase the patient’s risk of complications. Discussing these risks is not meant to scare you away from the procedure; it is just important that you think about all these things in order to make an educated decision about whether or not to have the procedure performed. While you may not associate your heart condition with getting your eyelids done, there can be a correlation.