Why choose an oculoplastician to operate on drooping eyelids?

An oculo-plastician is a cosmetic surgeon trained in ophthalmology, enabling him or her to practice this hyperspecialized art with, no pun intended, a double eye: the aesthetic approach and the ophthalmological approach.

This complementary view is all the more interesting given that the main complications of eye surgery are ophthalmological in nature.
Most are linked to excessive eyelid resection, resulting in insufficient eyelid closure or lagophthalmos.
Nocturnal lagophthalmos then translates into dry eye syndrome, which can lead to chronic keratitis or even corneal ulcers.

Thanks to their knowledge of eyelid physio-pathology, oculo-plasticians are even more aware of these potential complications than anyone else: they can perfectly anticipate them, so as to best adapt their surgical procedure.

Before practicing as an eye surgeon for the past 30 years, Dr. Hayot was head of the ophthalmology department: his medical knowledge, coupled with his surgical expertise, enable him to take better care of aging eyes.

Why is a microsurgeon essential for blepharoplasty?

A successful palpebral lift is a surgery of excellence and precision, requiring training and extensive experience in microsurgery.
The surgeon will use an operating microscope or magnifying glass to perform a highly precise, meticulous technical procedure, down to the last millimeter.

This is important for at least two reasons.

The first reason is that a botched blepharoplasty is always difficult to repair. It can only be performed by an experienced oculo-plastician.
However, the slightest imperfection in the technical gesture is immediately apparent, the most frequent error being the scleral show, which exposes the white of the sclera more visibly. The surgical gesture must therefore be perfect.

The second reason is that an imperfect technical procedure can alter the contours of the eyes, permanently betrayinga patient’s identity. However, surgery for drooping eyelids is based on a fundamental principle: rejuvenating the eyes, while preserving their soul. This can only be achieved by respecting the anatomical contours of the eyelid, hence the importance of extremely precise palpebral surgery.

Why does a palpebral lift require real expertise?

But as is often the case in cosmetic surgery, good technique and equipment are not enough: what makes the difference is the choice of the right surgical procedure.
Expertise provides a more precise, more subtle diagnosis, which will take care of a complete analysis of the causes of ageing eyes and drooping eyelids.

In many cases, the general aesthetic surgeon will perform a subtraction blepharoplasty, removing the excess palpebral skin by simple skin resection, under local or general anesthesia.
Unless the resection is too extensive, the eyes are rejuvenated to some extent, but this is often insufficient. Why?
The apparent excess of skin has often not been rigorously analyzed: is it excess skin which, having lost its tone and elasticity, can no longer retract? Or is it an apparent fold of skin due to melting of the underlying volumes, giving the appearance of an emptying sack?

The skin of the eyelids is very thin, subject to both mechanical stress (1000 beats/minute) and physical aggression (UV, wind, cold…).
That’s why it ages so quickly, with frequent melting of the fatty tissue above and below the eyes.

If this fat loss is under-diagnosed, subtractive blepharoplasty can result in catastrophic results: by lifting the skin over lost volume, the eyes are only hollowed out a little more, which ultimately darkens and alters them.

Successful surgery of drooping eyelids due to fat melting, on the other hand, requires additional blepharoplasty, using microlipofilling to restore the lost fat. This injection of fat taken from the patient is without risk of rejection and completely natural.

All the expertise of a good eyelid surgery is therefore to restore volume through microlipostructure, before resecting any excess skin.
This micro-lipofilling technique is still considered by many to be innovative in eye surgery, although it has been tried and tested for years with face lifts. You can be sure of a natural result, with rejuvenated eyes that regain all the curves and sensuality of youth, without ever altering their identity.