These days, there are a lot of inquiries about plastic surgery by filial to serve to look their parents younger as a gift. Upper and lower eyelid surgery is especially popular because the skin around the eyes is thinner than other areas of skin, and the sebaceous glands are not developed, so it ages faster than other areas.

If the upper eyelid sags and stretches, the pupils are obscured, giving an unclear and stuffy impression. It makes you look older and makes you sleepy or sick. Moreover, your vision is blocked, and you keep raising your eyebrows, which can cause wrinkles on your forehead.

Sagging of the upper eyelid is also a functional problem. A lot of force is put on the eyes to lift the drooping upper eyelid, and the forehead muscles are used a lot, which causes fatigue and migraines. Additionally, sagging skin can easily cause tears to accumulate on the outside of the eyes, causing discomfort in daily life, such as causing the skin to become sore or peel off and cause pain. It can cause vision issues, too. When the field of view is narrowed, the amount of light coming in is reduced, which can cause vision to deteriorate.

If the lower eyelid sags, aging becomes more noticeable than if the upper eyelid sags. Wrinkles and puffiness under the eyes, protruding fat under the eyes, and dark circles can give a dull and grumpy look. Sagging of the upper eyelid usually occurs simultaneously with sagging of the lower eyelid, so surgery is often performed on both the upper and lower eyelids simultaneously.

The upper eyelid surgery eliminates eye wrinkles and secures vision by removing wrinkles on the sagging upper eyelid and connecting the eye-opening muscles to the skin. In most cases, the skin and the muscles are sagging, or the muscle that opens the eyes(levator palpebrae superioris) is often separated from the tarsal plate(the skin that covers the top and bottom of the eyeballs). Thus, the important point of the surgery is not simply to eliminate the skin but to strengthen the muscles that open the eyes properly and to slightly correct ptosis.

Some older patients with single eyelids do not prefer to have double eyelids. If surgery is performed without creating double eyelids, the sagging skin covers the eyelashes, so it is better to create a few inner double eyelids or thin double eyelids. According to Dr. Dong Wan Seo of Ieul Plastic Surgery, upper eyelid surgery must be considered at least ten years in advance. Still, in the case of single eyelid surgery, there may be cases where the surgery must be done again, even after five years.

In some cases, a subbrow lift surgery is performed at the same time as upper eyelid surgery, which excises and raises the skin and muscles under the eyebrow. If the upper eyelid sags too much, a large portion of the upper eyelid must be removed. However, in cases where this is difficult, the skin under the eyebrows is removed to preserve the skin of the eyelid.

Lower eyelid surgery is a surgery to excise the sagging lower eyelid, remove or reposition fat, restore the fat membrane, and fix the skin and muscles to the periosteum under the eye. Collecting fat from under the eyes can inject a small amount of autologous fat into the sunken eyelids to add volume. It can also be injected into the wrinkles of the nose to improve wrinkles.

The patient satisfaction after surgery is quite high. Dr. Seo adds, "Satisfaction is high after the surgery, so there are quite a few cases where lower eyelid surgery is performed first and upper eyelid surgery is performed later, or upper eyelid surgery is performed, and then lower eyelid surgery is performed later."

In upper and lower eyelid surgery, improving both aesthetic aspects and functional problems is important, so excessive surgery focusing only on aesthetic aspects should be avoided.

Dr. Seo explained, "The purpose of upper and lower eyelid surgery is to return the patient to a normal, slightly younger-looking anatomical structure, so excessive surgery should not be performed. If upper eyelid surgery is overdone, the eyes may not close, or an unnatural double eyelid may form. If lower eyelid surgery is overdone, ectropion (a condition in which the lower eyelid sags and the red inner skin turns outward) may occur."

It is also important to check for any existing disease before surgery. For example, if you have diabetes or high blood pressure, it can affect the healing of wounds and may make you prone to bleeding during or after surgery. Therefore, thorough consultation between the patient and doctor is necessary in advance.

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