Eyelid Surgery (Blepharoplasty)

Eyelids Getting in the Way

It’s not uncommon for patients to request eyelid surgery in Houston. As we age, the skin loses elasticity, meaning it can no longer bounce back the way it used to. This is a problem when you combine the constant pulling effects of gravity with the hot Texas sun. For this reason, Dr. Polsen sees many patients who suffer from drooping eyelids caused by excess skin.

Drooping eyelids can make you look older and fatigued, and in some cases they can even affect your vision. Often, this drooping is simply a result of genetics or of the natural aging process. Eyelid surgery is a popular option for anyone suffering from excess tissue or fatty deposits on their upper or lower eyelids. During the course of the procedure, Dr. Polsen will trim away that excess tissue and eliminate those fatty deposits. The end result is a more youthful look—with smoother, younger-looking eyelids—and clearer sights, especially if your eyelids were getting in the way. An Eyelid Surgeon in the Houston Clear Lake Area, Dr. Polsen is available to confidentially consult with you about any personal transformation you might be considering.

To schedule your eyelid surgery, you can contact us online or call our Clear Lake offices at (281) 538-6600 to schedule an confidential consultation.

Overview:

Eliminates excess tissue from eyelids
Improved vision and more youthful look
Recovery: Generally 7-10 days

Who is a Good Candidate?

The best candidates for cosmetic surgery are always those who have realistic expectations about their final results. Typical eyelid surgery patients are 35 or older, but there are plenty of younger patients with a family history of sagging eyelids who also opt to have this procedure performed. Dr. Polsen will ensure that you will benefit fully from eyelid surgery before moving forward with the procedure.

Good candidates for eyelid surgery will generally have at least some of the following characteristics:

Excess skin around the upper or lower eyelid
Excess tissue causing dark circles under the eyes
Skin that interferes with vision around the upper or lower eyelid
A desire to see more clearly
A desire to look more youthful
Generally healthy enough for surgery
Uncomfortable with the way that excess eyelid tissue makes you look: sad, angry, or tired when you are not
Looking for a permanent solution to drooping eyelids or dark circles under the eyes
Have realistic expectations about what this procedure can accomplish

The Procedure

Eyelid surgery is often performed in a hospital or surgical suite setting, but the procedure generally goes pretty quickly. This means that most patients are in for a couple of hours before being able to return home. Once anesthesia is administered and effective, Dr. Polsen will begin the procedure. Generally, eyelid surgery falls into two distinct categories:

Upper Eyelid: When the excess skin accumulates around your upper eyelid, surgeons will use an incision that follows the contour of the crease of the upper eyelid. This allows any scarring to be easily hiding by the eyelid itself. Once the incisions are made, the excess tissue is then removed from the eyelid.
Lower Eyelid: When the excess tissue accumulates around the lower eyelid, the incision generally follows the lower eyelash line. Additionally, a transconjunctival incision can be used. This incision is created on the inside of the lower eyelid, effectively hiding any scarring that might develop. This is an alternative to a more typical incision type.

Your eyelid surgery is a delicate procedure in which Dr. Polsen takes great care to make sure his Houston Area patients achieve their desired results. Eyelid surgery oftentimes involves removal of sagging excess skin on the under-eye area. Dr. Polsen will help determine the best plan for your eyelid surgery. The surgery usually takes about an hour and is typically performed using only local anesthesia or mild sedation. Patients sometimes elect to try injectable fillers during their eyelid surgery to create an overall rejuvenated final look.

It should also be noted that sometimes the eyelids get in the way not because they are drooping, but because a drooping forehead is forcing the eyelids down. In this case, the correcting procedure would be a brow lift. While some of our Clear Lake patients elect to have both procedures performed, Dr. Polsen will work with you to determine which procedure suits your individual face best.

What Are the Benefits of Eyelid Surgery?

Eyelid surgery, or blepharoplasty, is consistently one of the most popular plastic surgery procedures in the nation. There are good reasons why blepharoplasty has achieved this level of popularity: for most patients, it delivers amazing results and wonderful benefits. Some of those benefits include:

A wider field of vision: Because eyelid tissue can droop into your line of sight, excess skin can sometimes cause your field of vision to shrink. After a blepharoplasty, patients often see better (due to an increase in light to the eye) and see more (due to that increase in the field of vision).
A significantly younger look: Wrinkles around the eyes are one of the first major indicators of aging. When the skin around the eyes is smoother, patients can look significantly younger, even if there are more wrinkles elsewhere. That’s because the eyes tend to be a focal point for the aesthetics of the face.
You can better emote: When patients suffer from excess tissue around the eyes, they can experience difficulty emoting in certain ways. Excess skin around the upper eyelid can make you look angry or sad all the time. Excess skin around the lower eyelid can make you look tired all the time. Blepharoplasty can help you emote more fully, giving you a broader range of facial expressions.

There’s that old saying that eyes are the windows to the soul. There’s no denying the focal point that eyes play in identity and communication, so the importance of blepharoplasty is difficult to understate for those patients who are suffering from excess skin around the eyes. The benefits of an eyelid lift tend to be far reaching, in both practical and aesthetic terms.

Contact our offices near Houston to schedule a consultation and discover for yourself what the personalized benefits could be for your eyelid lift procedure.

What Causes Drooping Eyelids

When deciding whether an eyelid lift might be the right procedure address wrinkles and excess skin around your eyes, it’s worth taking a moment to consider what causes drooping eyelids in the first place. Drooping eyes can interfere with your vision and make you look older or more fatigued than you actually are. What causes them, ultimately, is a loss of elasticity in your skin.

Gravity is a constant factor in your life, and this force is constantly pulling on your skin. When you’re young, your skin has a high amount of elasticity–it can bounce back like a rubber band. But as you age, your skin loses that ability. Unfortunately, there’s no sure way to predict when this might happen.

Factors that might contribute to excess skin or drooping eyelids include:

Genetics
Lifestyle and behaviors (smoking tobacco, for example)
Previous surgery
Various other factors

Ultimately, it’s difficult to predict precisely when one’s eyebrows might begin to accumulate excess skin. But if you want to be evaluated, contact our offices to schedule a consultation with Dr. Polsen.

Recovery

Eyelid surgery patients should experience minimal pain following surgery, but in special cases these side effects can be controlled with a prescription pain medication. Most patients will experience slight bruising and swelling, but it should subside within a week to 10 days. You can minimize your side effects by keeping your head elevated and following Dr. Polsen’s detailed post-operative care instructions.

Results from this procedure are almost always favorable to patients. Indeed, almost all of Dr. Polsen’s Clear Lake TX area eyelid surgery patients love the way they look afterwards. This procedure eliminates excess tissue around the eyes that can cause drooping eyelids and dark circles under the eyes. By eliminating drooping eyelids and dark circles, the face suddenly looks much more youthful and energized. Because eyes are such a central part of the face, making this one change to the eyes can actually have a significant and positive impact on the overall look of the face.

If you’re interested in eyelid surgery, be sure to consult with a board certified plastic surgeon such as Dr. Charles Polsen. With a well earned reputation for performing eyelid surgery in the Houston and Clear Lake, TX area, Dr. Polsen is among the best eyelid surgeons in the area. Contact us today to schedule a confidential consultation and begin your transformation!

Results

Results from your eyelid lift surgery will not always be immediately apparent. Bruising and swelling may obscure the surgical work that has been performed. However, as the eyelids heal and your results come into focus, you will likely begin to notice that you look more youthful, alert, and expressive.

For patients who have undergone an upper eyelid surgery, results will likely include a more alert and expressive eye, in addition to a broader field of vision. Wrinkles around the eyes will be diminished and there will be less tissue that “droops” down from the eyebrow. There will also be fewer shadows around your eyes, improving both vision and aesthetics.

Similar results are recorded for patients who undergo a lower eyelid surgery. Often, such patients are looking to address dark circles under the eyes or out of position fat that causes lumps beneath the eyes. After eyelid lift procedures, those lumps are often completely mitigated and dark circles are diminished. This means that patients will look more rested and more youthful.

Still other patients will benefit from undergoing both upper and lower blepharoplasty and the results will be some combination of those listed above. Most patients can expect to see better (when applicable) and appear younger when they undergo a blepharoplasty procedure.

Dr. Polsen performs eyelid lift procedures at his Houston area surgicenter, located in Clear Lake, TX. To find out more about what this procedure might be able to do for you, contact our offices to schedule a one-on-one consultation with Dr. Polsen.