Eyelid Reduction (Upper Blepharoplasty)

The Consultation

The first stage of your upper blepharoplasty treatment journey will be a consultation with one of our expert surgeons.

At your consultation, your surgeon will go through the upper blepharoplasty procedure in detail and examine the areas that you are concerned about to assess your suitability for surgery.

Your surgeon will then discuss:

• Your medical history
• Your expectations from the surgery
• Risks and Complications of Blepharoplasty Surgery
• Aftercare

Following your consultation, you will be introduced to your dedicated patient coordinator who will be your point of contact should you wish to proceed with upper blepharoplasty surgery.

Pre-Operative Appointment

In the interests of patient safety, all our patients are assessed against our patient selection criteria. Following your upper blepharoplasty consultation and review of your past medical history, the physician or pre-operative nurse will select which pre-operative tests are required, most of which are routine blood tests.

They will also advise you of any precautions you need to take in the days or weeks leading up to your eyelid surgery procedure and advise on any medication that you should stop taking ahead of your procedure.

Eyelid Surgery

An upper blepharoplasty or eyelid surgery is typically carried out within our in-clinic theatres.

Local anaesthetic will be administered to the eyelid to numb the area so no pain is felt during the procedure. In some cases, a general anesthetic may be used which will be discussed with your surgeon.

An incision is then made in the skin fold that runs across the eyelid. Excess skin and fatty tissue is removed from the area. The surgeon will reshape the eyelid and close the incision with fine sutures.

The procedure can take an hour to perform. Following your procedure, you will be provided with detailed information on how to care for your eye/s following the upper blepharoplasty procedure. Patients will be able to leave once the surgeon is happy with their immediate recovery post-procedure.

Augmentation Blepharoplasty (Fat Transfer)

Historically, a strip of muscle was removed during an upper blepharoplasty procedure. This was to help further define the eyelid crease. This is not a technique that we favour anymore as over time this creates an aged look. One of the tell-tale signs of an elderly eye is hollowing, this is called an ‘A frame deformity’. Therefore, skin is only removed from the eyelid to preserve the volume that is present. Many surgeons request to see old photographs to decide if any hollowing has occurred, and if so, they may also suggest fat transfer. Also known as augmentation blepharoplasty, this technique can help to restore youthful volume, as well as removing redundant extra skin from the area.

The procedure involves taking fat from your thighs, buttocks, lower back or abdomen. The extracted fat is then spun on a centrifuge to separate the best fat cells for the procedure. It will then be injected back into the upper eyelid area.

This is a larger procedure and will need to be carried out within our surgical facilities under local anaesthetic or local anaesthetic with sedation.

Combined Upper and Lower Blepharoplasty

If the patient requires a combined Upper and Lower Blepharoplasty procedure, then a lower blepharoplasty procedure will be performed at the same time as your upper blepharoplasty procedure.

An upper blepharoplasty involves removing excess skin and fat from the lower eye area through an incision made within the lower eyelash line or inside the lower lid.

This slightly more complex technique will often require a general anaesthetic.

After your upper blepharoplasty

Immediately following your upper blepharoplasty procedure you can expect to experience some mild pain or discomfort as the local anaesthetic wears off, you surgeon will advise on the best type of pain medication to take to help keep you comfortable.

Thin paper bandaging strips will be placed along the eyelid crease for around 2 weeks to support the healing of the incision.

Swelling is common following eyelid surgery but usually settles after a week. Bruising only typically occurs in people who knowingly bruise easily. We recommend cool gel packs to help with swelling.

An appointment will be made for 1 week after your surgery to remove your stitches and assess how you are healing.

Most patients can return to work 1 week following their procedure. This will, however, depend on the nature of your work and your healing rate. If you work in a particularly dusty or strenuous environment this may need to be extended or precautions made to ensure your eyelid can heal safely.

Our surgeons always use extreme precision along the natural folds of your eyes to prevent scarring and ensure a recovery that is as quick as possible.

Results from your blepharoplasty procedure can be seen after 2-3 months, your incision may still appear red at this stage and it can take up to a year for them to heal fully so that they are barely visible.