The appearance of your face changes with time, and your eyes are no exception. At The Mack Cosmetic Center in Tampa, FL, we understand your desire to eliminate under-eye baggage and loose skin around the lids. That’s why we recommend blepharoplasty, a surgery that rejuvenates upper and lower lids and trims away sagging tissues for a tighter, more youthful appearance.
What Is Blepharoplasty? 12 Things To Know
1. This Procedure Can Be Customized
Everyone ages a little differently, but in the brow and eyelid region, people tend to lose elastin and collagen that lead to generally weaker eyelid muscles and redundant skin. The cumulative effect is a heavy, drooping appearance. Blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery) works to remove excess tissues and contour skin around the eyes. Sagging will be replaced with smoother, tauter skin to refresh the whole eye.
But no two pairs of eyes are the same, and surgery results are likewise unique. We tailor our approach to achieve the best results for your face, such as identifying where to refashion your eyelid crease and recognizing how to reposition fat for the most pleasing aesthetic. This allows us to focus on each patient individually and ultimately:
- Tighten skin that has created folds in the eyelid and brow
- Restore natural lineation to the upper eyelid
- Remove fat deposits that make the eyelids look puffy
- Eliminate bags under the eyes
- Firm the lower lids
- Erase wrinkles and excess skin from the lower lid
2. Surgery Is Relatively Quick
If you’re having surgery on both your upper and lower lids, you can expect the procedure to take between one and two hours. Because it’s quick, your surgery will be performed on an outpatient basis with either an IV twilight anesthesia or local anesthetic. And because of the minimal risks involved with a blepharoplasty, patients are allowed to return home after only a brief monitoring period, meaning you’ll be able to go home and sleep comfortably in your own bed.
3. You Can Take Steps To Improve Your Own Recovery
We’ll provide you with individualized guidelines to follow after surgery, but it’s important to know your recovery largely depends on you. It is for this reason that we typically recommend patients protect their eyes from sunlight and wind. This means wearing dark sunglasses that cover your eyes from the sides and adding a hat to keep your face shaded. We’ll also provide post-surgery instructions for applying sunscreen.
Be kind to your eyes throughout your recovery and skip reading, checking email, or binge-watching your favorite TV show for about a week. Each of these is known to dry the eyes, which you want to avoid for a faster, smoother recovery.
Take Time To Rest
Get plenty of rest to help your eyes heal; in fact, a lack of sleep can slow down healing. And for a short period, you’ll feel more tired than normal as your body uses substantial energy to recover. Pay attention when you feel sluggish and rest, whether this means a nap during the day, going to bed earlier, or both. Now is not the time to push yourself, but instead an opportunity to take it easy and attend to your needs.
Avoid Stress
In this same vein, you can hasten your recovery by avoiding stress. While this means different things to different patients, you should in general ease off work activities – no emails or phone calls – and choose uplifting ways to pass the time that won’t strain your eyes. You might listen to audiobooks, broaden your playlists, or start a meditation practice. The point is to find ways to relax your eyes and body without stressing your mind.
This also means skipping strenuous activities that increase blood flow to the eyes. Obvious culprits include sports, aerobics, and jogging, but you’ll also want to deter from daily tasks like lifting and bending. Remember, you want quiet and peaceful rest for about a week.
4. Results Will Help You Look Younger
A study from the University of York broke down 65 facial features to identify which was the most important when making a first impression. With regard to youthful-attractiveness, the eye region proved most critical; specifically, large, open eyes were associated with a youthful appearance. Blepharoplasty strives to deliver such results, helping to give your eyes a tighter, brighter, and more open appearance.
Your results will be subtle but impactful. Keep in mind we don’t want to alter your appearance. Instead, we aim to restore a sense of youth so you look more alert. Most patients elect to have this surgery because they look tired and heavy in the eye area, but some also have obscured vision caused by drooping upper lids. We can correct this as well, restoring function and aesthetics in a way that is truly life-changing.
5. You’ll Notice an Immediate Difference
Your eyelids will look visibly different immediately after surgery, and you’ll likely be able to return to work within one or two weeks. But you’ll need to exercise some patience as your final results develop. This usually takes four to six weeks as tissues heal and your body adjusts to the changes made during surgery.
Our staff will let you know when you can resume exercising, wearing makeup, and driving. In general, you can resume wearing contact lenses and light makeup after two weeks. Factors that may influence the timeline of your final results include:
- Your general health
- Your age
- The quality of your skin
- How closely you follow our post-op recovery guidelines
6. This Surgery Is Surprisingly Pain-Free
If you’re imagining a painful procedure followed by an equally painful recovery, we can put your fears to rest. Patients do not report any significant discomfort after this surgery. The surgery itself is minimally invasive; we focus most of our efforts on the surface of your skin to eliminate the need for deep cuts. This makes for a relatively simple and pain-free experience. You’ll feel nothing during the procedure itself, and after, you’ll simply need someone to drive you home and stay with you that night to lend assistance.
7. You Will Be Able To See After
Many patients worry they won’t be able to see for several weeks or longer as they recover from blepharoplasty, but this is not the case. The good news is your vision will remain unchanged – you’re not required to wear patches or coverings that completely obscure your eyes. Even as your results from surgery continue to develop, your eyesight will not be affected.
Even better, most patients experience significant vision improvements after surgery. This is because their eyelids are no longer drooping, which, as mentioned earlier, can be severe enough to impede sight. This drooping is for some patients the driving force behind their choice to have surgery.
8. Results Are Long-Lasting
The results of surgery are intended to be long-lasting and can, in many cases, persist for decades. Once the excess skin is removed, it won’t grow back. This means patients who have the surgery done in their 60s, 70s, and 80s probably won’t need it again.
For those in their 40s or 50s, they may choose to have more tissue trimmed 10 or 15 years down the road. Keep in mind you can help maintain your results with a daily skincare regiment that includes a nutrient-rich moisturizer and sunscreen.
Pairing Treatments for Broader Results
You should know that after surgery, your face may change in other ways reflective of age and environmental factors. We’re speaking of drooping in the forehead and brows and/or wrinkles that may develop at the corners of your eyes.
The good news is that easy and effective treatments like Botox can relax muscles and help keep your rejuvenated appearance. Other injectables can restore volume and smooth away folds in the lower portions of your face. This is why many patients choose to combine therapies; they allow you to minimize the effects of aging in a very personal way.
9. Surgery Does More Than Correct Sagging
When eyelids droop, they can pull away from the eyes and irritate the moist membrane that lines the inner lids and eye surface. In turn, you’re likely to experience:
- Eyestrain
- Frontal headaches as you use forehead muscles to widen eyes and see more clearly
- Neck pain from lifting your chin to improve your line of sight
What does this mean? That surgery does more than correct sagging skin. It can also improve your overall sense of well-being to reduce strain, irritation, and pain. And from an aesthetic perspective, the results can make your face look more approachable. A study from Ritsumeikan University confirms that wider eyes give your face a friendlier and more attractive appearance.
10. You Will Not See Noticeable Scars
We mentioned earlier we must make a small incision on each lid to remove excess skin and fat. The key here is “small,” and we ensure the incision is made within the natural crease where it’s barely visible. Scars can be subtly detected immediately after surgery but quickly fade in the coming weeks. Any remaining traces of surgery are minute and require close inspection to be noticed.
11. We Remove Only Limited Amounts of Skin
Based on your pre-op consultation, we will carefully remove the optimal amount of skin to ensure natural-looking results. We also ensure no compromise is made to eyelid closure. Last but not least, surgery maintains symmetry between both eyes, as we mark your creases before so skin is measured and outlined in a very precise way.
12. Many People Qualify for Surgery
The most common patients are those with visible signs of aging that include drooping eyelids. Having said this, blepharoplasty does not require that you fall within specific age parameters. Even those who are genetically prone to sagging lids can have surgery without waiting until they reach a certain age. In general, patients who are non-smokers, have realistic expectations, and are in sound mental and physical health will be considered.
We require that all patients have an initial consultation so we can review their health and assess their appearance. We’ll ask a series of questions and identify what you hope to gain from surgery. This is also the time to ask any questions you have.
Enjoy Bigger and Brighter Eyes
Blepharoplasty is a nearly pain-free and minimally-invasive way to correct skin sagging and drooping around your eyes. After a quick procedure and relatively easy recovery, you’ll enjoy a rejuvenated appearance that can be complemented with many other therapies. Schedule your consultation today by calling The Mack Cosmetic Center in Tampa, FL.