Dear Dr. Seckel, Can you tell me about the laser eyelid surgery called laser blepharoplasty? Is it a better way to remove eyelid bags and do an eyelid lift? Thanks, Tammy, Chicago, Illinois
Dear Tammy,
The laser eyelid surgery called laser blepharoplasty is an excellent operation to remove loose skin or hooding from the upper eyelids and remove the bags and dark circles under the eyes and to perform total eyelid skin rejuvenation.. For the lower eyelids the laser is used to do a transconjunctival blepharoplasty, which means that no visible eyelid incision is made on the lower eyelid. Rather the laser is used to cut through the pink part of the lower eyelid on the inside of the lower eyelid. This is an excellent eyelid rejuvenation technique.
I have been doing laser blepharoplasty and laser eyelid skin rejuvenation exclusively for the past ten years because in my opinion it is a far superior technique to the scalpel blepharoplasty for a number of reasons. In my opinion the laser blepharoplasty and eyelid skin rejuvenation techniques are the best solution for eye hooding, eye bags, and dark circles under the eyes, eyelid wrinkles and to tighten the eyelid skin.
First, during laser blepharoplasty the laser seals blood vessels as the laser beam passes through the tissues thus there is less bleeding when using the laser to do a blepharoplasty. Less bleeding means less bruising and a shorter recovery time for the patient. The other benefit of less bleeding is less risk of complications. The most feared complication of blepharoplasty is bleeding which can put pressure on the eye and if this happens the eye could be damaged. Thus I feel laser blepharoplasty is a safer way to do the blepharoplasty operation because there is less chance of bleeding.
Another great advantage of the laser blepharoplasty is that because there is less bleeding, the plastic surgeon can see all of the important eye structures much more clearly and thus avoid injuring any of the important muscles and other important eyelid structures during surgery
Another benefit is that the laser can also be used on the surface of the eyelid to do a laser skin peel to remove wrinkles and crow’s feet and tighten the eyelid skin. A new laser the activefx laser peel is an excellent new laser skin peel for the eyelid to remove wrinkles and tighten eyelid skin.
It is very important to find a board certified plastic surgeon who has experience with the laser and has done many laser blepharoplasty procedures.
Thank you for your question. For further information on laser blepharoplasty or eyelid rejuvenation visit my Boston Plastic Surgery Practice, contact me or read Save Your Face.
Boston, Massachusetts
Peabody, Massachusetts