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This is what happens when you get an eyelift

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What happens during eye lift surgery?

Eye lifts are done to make the eyes look younger, less tired, less heavy, and less baggy.  It’s what I do the most of in my cosmetic practice in NYC.  So what does the eyelift involve?

 

It’s an outpatient procedure

You don’t have to stay overnight, and it’s done in an accredited surgical suite.  The total operating time for just the upper eyelids is under an hour, longer if the upper and lower eyelids are done together.

To make the upper eyelids look younger, a thin strip of skin is removed and the eyelid is sculpted on the inside by shaping the fat and muscle.  Then stitches are used to close the skin and to improve the contours of the eyelids.

Downtime can be 1 – 2 weeks

Some people look great after a week (which is usually when any stitches are removed), but others may have bruising and swelling that lasts longer than a week.  The vast majority of my patients use only Tylenol for some mild discomfort during the first week of healing after their eyelift.

Will an eyelift make me look strange?

A natural-looking eyelift surgery will only make you look strange during the early healing time- so perhaps a few weeks.  Over-done eyelid lifts when too much skin or fat was removed can make your face look different.  A key is finding a surgeon you trust and has specialized eyelid training.  Their before and after photos should provide examples of results that match your goals.  And they should be able to tell you if your expectations are realistic.  These are issues I focus on when I see prospective clients in my offices in NY.

The goal of cosmetic eyelid surgery is to rejuvenate the eyes without calling attention to the fact that something was done.  The results can be nothing short of amazing.  Click here to see what I mean.

 

 

 

 

What is a laser eyelift ?

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laser eyelift advertisement

What does the term Laser Eyelift mean? Is it used by cosmetic eyelid surgeons purely for marketing or does the laser truly improve cosmetic eyelid surgery results?  The answer is both.

The word “laser” added to any procedure makes it sound more modern, cleaner, and better.  And it is used to market medical and surgical procedures including laser facelift, laser liposuction, laser toenail fungus removal, and laser teeth cleaning. Here in NY the word laser is thrown about quite frequently in medical advertising- I’ve seen all sorts of laser procedures on billboards on the NYC subway.

Lasers are used in cosmetic eyelid surgery in 2 ways:

1. Creating an incision and dissecting tissue: A focused laser cuts the skin and vaporizes tissue with pinpoint accuracy.  This can be better than using a scalpel because it theoretically gives the surgeon more manual control and seals blood vessels as it cuts.  On the other hand, stitches often need to remain longer after laser upper eyelid surgery and studies have shown similar end results when laser versus scalpel was used to make the upper eyelid incision.

2. Resurfacing the upper eyelid and surrounding skin: Laser energy is used to remove the eyelid skin surface, leaving room for new skin to replace sun-damaged skin.  This can be done on its own or at the same time as eyelid skin removal.  Laser resurfacing improves the quality of the skin, reducing wrinkles and brown spots.  This approach does improve on traditional upper eyelid lifts that didn’t commonly include resurfacing.  Last year, I presented my upper eyelid skin laser resurfacing technique to a large group of surgeons at an oculoplastic surgery conference in New Orleans and it was received with much interest.  Lower eyelid skin resurfacing is quite common and I expect upper eyelid skin resurfacing to become more popular in the next 5 years.