Blepharoplasty
Commonly referred to as an"eyelid tuck", blepharoplasty surgery is a very commonly performed outpatient surgery. It is performed by a number of surgical specialists, including ophthalmologists like Dr. Peter Campanella, and is one of the most popular procedures requested for facial rejuvenation. It involves removal of the"hood" of skin which forms over the upper eyelid, which makes the opening of one's eyelids seem smaller. The extra fold also makes the eyes feel heavy and can make one's eyes feel tired from fighting to keep them open.
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Upper lid blepharoplasty surgery is performed as an outpatient. It can be performed in the office, but it can also be performed at a surgery center where a patient can receive sedation to make them more comfortable during the procedure. Initially, a patient planning to undergo this surgery needs to be evaluated to see if the upper lid heaviness is significant enough to be considered a medical condition. This is important, because if the procedure is considered medical instead of cosmetic, then most insurance companies will pay for it!
Once the determination of possible insurance coverage is made, the surgery can be scheduled. In most cases, Dr. Campanella performs blepharoplasty surgery at his outpatient Surgery Center, the Berkshire Eye Surgery Center in Wyomissing. On arrival at the center, one of the nurses will greet you and bring you to our preoperative area. An intravenous will be started so that sedative may be given throughout the surgery. You will be brought into the operating suite, and asked to lie down on a bed. The operating suite is kept cool to help prevent infection, so a warm blanket will be placed over you. At that point, Dr. Campanella takes a magic marker to draw some lines to determine the amount of skin to be removed. Then, sedation is given through the intravenous to make you sleepy, and the skin is numbed with a medicine similar to Novocain.
While the remainder of the procedure is performed, additional sedation is given as needed to keep the patient comfortable. The extra skin is removed, and a dissolvable stitch is used to hold the edges of the skin together. The patient is then helped in the recovery area and offered something to eat and drink. Shortly after, patients go home to begin the recovery period.
Postoperatively, the thing we expect most to see is a fair amount of bruising. The most important thing for patients to do to help reduce the bruising is to use ice packs as directed, very frequently for the first few days. Most patients don't have much in the way of discomfort complaints, and over the first 2 weeks, the swelling and bruising go down, and the stitches dissolve. Once healed, patients notice quite a bit of change in their appearance. Dr. Campanella keeps the appearance as natural as possible, so people don't have that"scared deer in the headlights" look from the eyelids being too tight.
Gravity will tend to make the extra skin reaccumulate over the years, but the good news is that the procedure can be performed again if necessary, with insurance coverage if appropriate! If you have heavy eyelids and wondered what could be done about it, please contact Dr. Campanella for a complete evaluation and his recommendations.