When considering facial rejuvenation the eyes musle always be assessed. A youthful fullness to the eye area is one of the primary concerns of facial enhancement.
The eyes, as they say are the windows to the soul. They are also the areas the show the early signs of aging. When ever you consider any form of facial rejuvenation you must make yourself a student of aging. You must understand what features make a person look old and how have these developed. Most importantly the method to restore the face must place the soft tissue back into a more youthful position. An eyelid lift otherwise known as blepharoplasty, focuses on the eyes and the peri-orbital zone. There are many factors that contribute to aging in this area. This includes both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Age, sun exposure and hereditary factors all contribute to wrinkles, deep lines and puffiness around the eyes.
The aging process stops for no man or woman. Time can cause unwanted changes in expression displaying moods that are not present internally. An eyelid lift is designed to restore a more youthful appearance to your eyes. It may involve the upper lids, the lower lids, or both. Plastic surgeons approach to eyelid surgery has certainly changed over the past 5 to 10 years. The traditional approach involved only the removing of tissues such as skin, fat and muscle. Current techniques are focused on volumization of the peri-orbital area, restoring a youthful fullness.
For the lower eyelids an incision is made just below the lash line. The skin and muscle of the lower lid are elevated to reveal the underlying fat pads. Traditionally these fat pads were simply removed. Modern techniques however preserve this fat and use it to splay out over the bony prominences of the upper facial skeleton. This has a tremendous softening effect in this area. It is this volumization that creates a softness and youthful contours
The lower eyelid surgery can done under local anesthesia if desired. It is done as an outpatient in most cases. Icing of the area after surgery along with restriction of aspirin and aspirin containing products will help decrease bruising and swelling. The sutures will be removed in 3 – 5 days. Recovery is generally uneventful. Make up can be reapplied when the sutures are removed. The tricks to make up are that purple covers yellow, yellow covers purple and green covers pink. Selecting the appropriate foundation will help most female patients get back to normal.
Dr. Jeff Zwiren completed a fellowship in plastic surgery at Ohio State University and has been in practice since 1988 at Prima Center for Plastic Surgery in Atlanta Georgia.
