Dear Dr. Seckel, I live in Brussels (Belgium) where I had a blepharoplasty (both eyelids) end march 2006, and I am not happy with the result. The ‘bags’ of the lower eyelids disappeared, and the scars are not too visible, but my eyes look very hollow with dark circles under the eyes, under both eyes (more in the right eye) I have now real visible hollow eyes with dark circles under the eyes. That makes the eye look rounder; mostly in the extern corners of the eye, like sad eyes, like dropping. I think you call it the sad eyed look or hound dog eyes. In the upper eyelid, the line of the eyelid is very high now (more in the right eye than in the left), it looks artificial, and now also my brows look lower than before. A lot of people say to me: “you look tired”, or “you lost a lot of weight, didn’t you?” It gives a tired, not-healthy look. I thought I would get used to it, or the result would be better after a few months, but no. I begin to search information on internet, see what can be done, it seems it is not easy to remedy, I don’t find real specialists of that problem in my country, and now I want to be very careful, I don’t want to risk a worse result. A plastic surgeon I went to here spoke about another operation, but he would open the skin again, I hesitate… I read your site and thought you could give me a good advice about what to do, or perhaps an idea of where or who here in Europe I could see. Thank you very much for information and apologize my approximate English! Thank you, Georgette, Brussels, Belgium
Dear Georgette,
I am sorry to hear of your experience following the eyelid rejuvenation procedure called blepharoplasty to correct bags and dark circles under the eyes. The problems you mention, hollow eyes, dark circles under the eyes, and the sad eyed look are problems that do occur after the old style incisional blepharoplasty in which an incision is made on the lower eyelid and lower eyelid skin is removed.
There are two main problems that can cause the appearance of hollow eyes, dark circles, and the sad eyed look following blepharoplasty.
First, when too much fat is removed from the lower eyelid the lower eyelid develops the hollow eye appearance. Second, when an incision is made on the lower eyelid the support of the lower eyelid is lost and the lower eyelid droops giving the sad eyed or tired eyes appearance which is technically called an ectropion.
To correct the hollow eye appearance I remove fat from the area around the umbilicus or belly button and transplant the fat into the lower eyelid to plump the hollow appearance. I use an incision on the inside of the eyelid, through the conjunctiva, with a laser, called a transconjunctival laser blepharoplasty. I DO NOT do fat injection with a needle-it is dangerous and does not always work.
I transplant the fat through a tiny laser incision on the inside of the eyelid thus there is no visible scar and the support of the eyelid is not further damaged.
To correct the sad eyed look I do a procedure called the canthopexy, which tightens and restores the ligament, which supports the lower eyelid. This tightens or pulls the lower eyelid back up to a more natural position.
These are complex Oculoplastic procedures and I do not know anyone to refer you to. If you would like to come to Boston, please contact me.
If you would like more information on blepharoplasty, dark circles and eyelid rejuvenmation read Save Your Face or contact me.
Thank you,
Boston, Massachusetts