Our Philosophy of Care

Featured Procedure

Eyelid Surgery

“I’m sick and tired of people asking me if I’m sick or tired.”  I hear this frequently from people considering lid surgery. After all, there are only two expressive parts of the face: the area around the eyes – and the mouth. Of these two, eyelids and eyebrows are much easier to change than the shape of the mouth. Crepey or baggy upper eyelids make people look sad or angry. Puffy or crinkly lower lids suggest tired or unhappy feelings.

This effect is so strong that I often suggest eyelid surgery as the first and most important “facelift”.  After surgery, patients are smiling with their eyes. It is a truism that things on the face that look good usually function better than things which are unattractive. Therefore, there are always two goals to lid surgery: preserving or improving lid function and creating a pair of eyes that appear welcoming.

The single most important thing about any cosmetic surgery is deniability. You should not look like you have had an operation: you should look rested or “fresher”. Patients are frequently complemented by friends who are unsure of exactly what positive change has occurred: “When did you get contact lenses?”

“Did you change your hair?”

“Who’s doing your makeup?”

“Have you been on vacation?”

You should look just like you – but with the volume turned up. The results from eyelid surgery can last a very long time but there are differences from person to person, as there are in most things. It is safe to say that the post-operative improvement persists a lifetime. But obviously the operation has no effect upon the aging process and there will be some decay of the result. However, if you have heavy hooded lids and have an identical twin sibling with the same look, after your surgery you would have an immediate improvement and, over time, the apparent difference in your ages would increase in your favor. And the good news is the secondary or “touch-up” surgeries on the lids are usually fairly minor events.

There is no denying that lid surgery is scary for several reasons.  First of all, it occurs in the area that we most closely identify with our sense of self, as well as the innate desire to protect our eyes from injury.  Secondly, the result is right in the middle of the face, which makes hiding a bad result nearly impossible. Both of these concerns should give any thoughtful person pause.

This makes a selection of an experienced surgeon even more important because it usually isn’t the operation but the operator that is the cause of problems. In my practice I have been doing lid surgery successfully for over 25 years. In fact, a fair percentage of my practice is in redo or secondary surgeries in patients who had their initial eyelid surgery done elsewhere. Fortunately, most eyelid surgeries do beautifully and there is usually very little pain. The vast majority of patients use only cold compresses and Tylenol to see them through the first 2 to 3 days of recovery.