Turn Back the Clock on Aging Eyes with Blepharoplasty

It’s hard to pick a feature on your face that stands out more than another, but there’s a good argument to be made for your eyes. In fact, if literature is to be believed, your eyes are the windows to your soul. Whether or not this is true, your eyes can communicate a great deal, and they can speak volumes without you ever having opened your mouth. But not if they’re hidden by drooping eyelids that overshadow your eyes and make you look older and fatigued.

At our practice, Dr. Norman J. Pastorek is an experienced plastic surgeon who specializes in facial plastic surgery. With over 5,000 blepharoplasties (eyelid surgeries) under his belt, Dr. Pastorek is the surgeon that clients on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City turn to when they need to fine-tune their appearances.

Here’s a look at how you can turn back the clock on aging eyes with a blepharoplasty.

Behind aging eyes

When it comes to aging skin, one of the primary drivers is the loss of collagen, the protein responsible for the structural support in your tissue. This loss can be especially pronounced in the skin surrounding your eyes, which is already thin to begin with. As your collagen production naturally winds down with age, this thin tissue loses what little support it had, and your eyelids begin to sag. In severe cases, the tissue can even fold over the edge of your lid and into your line of vision.

While the loss of collagen is primarily to blame, you may have also inherited naturally puffy eyelids, which means they’re more prone to sagging.

Whatever the reason, you’re not alone. Blepharoplasty was ranked among the top-5 cosmetic surgical procedures in the United States, as more than 115,000 were performed in 2018 alone.

Opening up

A blepharoplasty is a fairly simple procedure, which Dr. Pastorek performs on an outpatient basis. Once we ensure your comfort with anesthesia, Dr. Pastorek creates an incision in the natural fold of your upper eyelid and performs one or more of the following, depending upon your goals:

• Removes or repositions fat deposits
• Tightens the muscles in your eyelids
• Removes excess tissue

If you want to address drooping lower lids, Dr. Pastorek makes an incision along your lash line and redistributes or removes fat deposits and removes excess skin, if necessary.

Once his work is done, he sutures the area(s) closed, and you’re free to return home once we give you the green light.

Seeing your way to your results

Over the course of the week following your blepharoplasty, plan on taking it easy to tend to your eyes. You should apply cold compresses to the area to minimize bruising and swelling and follow our aftercare instructions for any ointments or dressings.

Within 10-14 days after your surgery, you should be able to debut your more youthful eyes, but it may take a month or more for the bruising and swelling to fully dissipate. Everyone heals at their own pace, so it’s important that you remain patient while your body recovers and your eyelids resettle themselves into their new shapes.

But the wait is well worth it as you’re able to look out onto the world with bright, vibrant eyes that aren’t overshadowed by sagging eyelids.

To learn more about how a blepharoplasty can dial back the years in your appearance, contact our office at 212-987-4700 or schedule a consultation using our online booking tool.