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Can a blepharoplasty be performed to correct asymmetrical eyelids?
Info about me: I am Asian and 18 to 21 years of age. Both parents have the double-eyelid
fold. My left eye does not feel natural and eyelashes curl inwards.
Thank you for your question!
You submitted a question and you identified yourself between the ages 18-21 and you have
asymmetric eyes. You mentioned that your parents have double eyelids and that your eyelashes
are turning inward in the left eye. Although you mentioned only one photo, I'll tell you
a little about what I do in my practice. I've had a lot of experience in eyelid surgery
and I'm an oculofacial cosmetic surgeon. I've had a lot of experience in ptosis surgery
and I'm explaining why I'm mentioning this.
When we look at a person who is concerned with asymmetry, there are two critical aspects
when deciding whether blepharoplasty on what is the right thing for you. First is determining
the eyelid height. When someone has a lot of skin overhanging the eyelid, it can make
the width of the eyelid or the height between the margin of the lower eyelid or the bottom
part of the iris to the margin of the upper eyelid. Now that height is called the interpalpebral
fissure and what we want to determine by measuring that height is whether or not there's a condition
called ptosis. Ptosis means drooping and we talk about eyelid ptosis that's how we refer
to it. When we talk about other parts of the body such as breast, we talk about breast
ptosis.
When you have eyelid ptosis, it's a different surgery from blepharoplasty. When you have
eyelid ptosis, we evaluate the levator muscle. It's like the world elevator without the letter
e. it means we have to do something to advance the muscle or shorten the muscle to get the
height to be equal. That's part of the extensive evaluation and when we do this evaluation,
we look at the eyes both in primary gaze and forward and looking down and up to determine
the muscle function.
The other part of the equation is the skin fold. You mentioned that your eyelids are
turning inward. This is relatively a frequent condition of the asian descent. Very often
the lower eyelid, the condition called epiblepharon and this means that there's a fold of skin
that pushes the eyelashes and when the eyelashes already touches the eye, a correction has
to be done to prevent irritation of the eye itself.
In your situation, you might be well served with limited blepharoplasty to address the
fold of skin thay is causing your eyelashes to turn inward. Essentially, although you
submitted a question about the asymmetry and you have a relatively descent photo, the photo
does limit of how much opinion you can get without a proper examination. So I recommend
that you meet with a qualified experienced surgeon. Typically if there's an issue with
ptosis you would be going to an oculofacial plastic surgeon and get an evaluation of all
the things I mentioned. The proper evaluation of ptosis and the fold of skin over the eye.
Once you are comfortable with the doctor you meet with then you can make a decision of
preceding with your surgery.
Be also aware that when people are concerned with asymmetry, asymmetry is not only limited
to the soft tissue of the eyelids such as skin and levator muscle. Sometimes it is related
to the natural underlying bone structure. The human face is not perfectly asymmetric
and if you look at your face long enough, you can notice the subtle asymmetry of the
two sides. But specifically, with your issue, there sounds to be a real difference with
the skin fold of your eyelid. I think meeting with a qualified experienced cosmetic surgeon
will be in your interest.
I hope that gave you some guidance, I hope that was helpful and thank you for your question!