Question and answer: eyelid correction

What is an eyelid correction?

That is the conversion of a drooping or too thick eyelid into a normal eyelid by a plastic surgeon. The procedure is performed in regular hospitals as well as in independent treatment centers. In 2003, 14,300 eyelid corrections were performed in Dutch hospitals. The majority in women (78 percent). There are no figures for independent treatment centers.

When do you have such an operation performed?

The upper eyelid can hang over the eye, making your vision worse. For this reason, a quarter of the operated patients have an eyelid correction performed. The rest have eyelids corrected because they think they look bad, tired. Eyelids sag mainly due to gravity. The skin and muscle of the eyelid slacken with age. The eyeball is embedded in fatty tissue that acts as a shock absorber. Due to the slackening of skin and muscle, this fat pushes out more easily. And that speeds up the process of stretching skin and muscle. This creates a surplus of skin and thus drooping eyelids. This is not always the cause. Sometimes the drooping is because the eyebrows drop down or the skin of the forehead. The lower eyelids also sag with age under the influence of gravity. The skin is softer. A bulge under the eye can be caused by bulging fatty tissue. This is disturbing, because someone always looks tired.

How is corrected?

Surgery removes excess fat and skin. With an upper eyelid correction, an incision is made in the crease of the eyelid. The surgeon then removes the excess. Because the scar is in the crease of the eyelid, it is barely visible.
When the eyebrows droop, the surgeon can perform an endoscopic forehead lift. This is done under anaesthetic, in which several small incisions are made under the hair. This procedure has largely replaced the eyebrow lift, because the eyebrow lift gives visible scars.
With a correction of the lower eyelids, the cut is just below the eye hairs. The scar is virtually invisible afterwards. A correction of the upper and lower eyelids takes almost two hours.

What are complications?

Like any surgery, eyelid correction also has complications. Bleeding and infections occur. A very rare complication is blindness. When fat tissue is removed, the risk of complications is slightly greater.

How is the healing progressing?

The stitches are removed within a week. The swelling and bruising as a result of the procedure have reduced considerably after a week.
The lower eyelids take a little longer to recover. Barley grains sometimes form on the places of the stitches. They go away on their own or can be easily removed.

How long will the result remain acceptable?

Ten to twenty years. Removed skin and fat tissue no longer grows, but you cannot stop aging and gravity.

What does the procedure cost?

About €1000-€1600 for two upper eyelids, €1400-€1900 for two lower eyelids, €1500 for an eyebrow lift, €3500 for an endoscopic forehead lift. The basic package of 2007 never entitles you to reimbursement, not even if you really have trouble seeing due to a hanging upper limb. It is reimbursed if it concerns a congenital disorder. Check any additional insurance to see whether an eyelid correction is reimbursed.

More information: www.nvpc.nl or 030-282 39 00.