Eyelid surgery

In the first visit, Dr. Tarragona will evaluate the quality of your vision, the tear production, and your general health status. Your facial anatomy will be evaluated thoroughly. The doctor will decide which procedures are the best to improve your appearance.

If it is performed in the 4 eyelids, the surgery will start with the upper ones.

In cases in which it is necessary to remove the skin, the incisions are made in the natural lines of the upper eyelids, just below the lashes in the lower ones. Therefore, scars are hidden inside the natural structures of the eyelid. Through these incisions the skin is separated from the fat and the muscle, extracting the excess of fat, skin and muscle.

In cases in which there are only excess of fat, the procedure can be carried out through a transconjunctival approach, producing a non-visible scar.

The incisions are closed with very fine sutures that produce a minimum scar.

The duration of the intervention ranges from 1 to 2 hours.

It will depend on the type of anesthesia applied (it can be general or local), although it is usually done under local anesthesia and sedation, thus hospitalization is usually not necessary.

After the procedure, the surgeon will recommend you apply an eye ointment to avoid corneal injuries, cold compresses or local ice, and to sleep with the head elevated in order to reduce the edema.

The stitches are removed between 5 and 7 days after the surgery. Your surgeon will tell you which medications you should have topically and/or orally.

Normally, the excess of skin on the eyelids is a sign of aging. The loss of elasticity in the skin and muscles (as a result of the passage of time, the accumulation of fat, and in some cases, certain type of diseases), causes bags in both upper and lower eyelids that produce a more aged or tired appearance. For this reason, patients who undergo this procedure are usually above 35 years old.

In some patients with family history, or with some heart or kidney disease that causes bags in eyelipids, the surgery can be performed at a younger age.

Most of patients who undergo a blepharoplasty can start reading or watching TV in 2-3 days. However, you would not be able to use contact lenses. It may take a while to use them, up to 2 weeks, and even then, you may feel uncomfortable. Normally, after a week or 10 days you will be able to go back to work.  You should maintain a relative rest for 3 to 5 days and avoid strong activities for 3 weeks.

The result of the surgery is very favorable and long-lasting, and, in general, the bags of the eyelids do not usually reappear.

When the intervention is performed by a qualified plastic surgeon, the complications are infrequent and minor. However, as a surgical procedure, usual complications may occur such as hematomas, swelling, etc.

After the intervention, minor complications may appear such as double or blurred vision, temporary edema of the eyelids, and slight asymmetries in healing. Sometimes, after blepharoplasty, there is some difficulty in focusing the images, i.e. images may look somewhat blurred. This disappears in 2 or 3 weeks after the intervention. Conjunctivitis and subconjunctival hematoma (red eye) may also occur, which improve with appropriate treatment. In the first days, it is normal if, during the sleep, the eyelids do not close completely.