It has been said that the eyes are the “windows to your soul” because they are one of the best ways to express emotions. Unfortunately, your “windows” can be hard to appreciate if the skin around them is starting to hang or drape over. If so, blepharoplasty, or upper eyelid lift, may be the answer.

Upper eyelid blepharoplasty is a surgical procedure to remove excess loose skin of the upper eyelid area. This fairly minor procedure is generally done in the office under local anesthesia, and takes only 1 1/2 -2 hours. Some patients elect to take a mild oral sedative like Valium to ease their tension during the procedure, and have someone to drive them home. The sutures are in place approximately 5-7 days. Although there is very little discomfort associated with this procedure during recovery, many patients experience some significant bruising and swelling for the first week or so.

Lower eyelid blepharoplasty is a surgical procedure for removal of excess skin, bulging fat or both from the under-eye area. This procedure is most often performed under mild IV sedation as an outpatient surgical procedure. It takes about two hours for the surgery. For patients with a deeply indented trough along the infraorbital rim, this is a good time to perform fat grafting as well (suctioning fat from the abdomen and injecting it under the skin of the cheek) in order to camouflage the delineation between lower eye and cheek skin. You may notice that youthful eyelids have skin that blends seamlessly from the lower lid to the cheek without indentation.

Sometimes, Botox (botulinum toxin) injections and laser skin resurfacing alone can address the eye area well enough that you can delay surgery for a few more years.