2021.01.01

【Dr. HUANG, YAO-LI - Eyelid Surgery】

The annual meeting of the Taiwan Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery was held this March. Huang, Yao-Li (黃耀立), director of the Chang Gung Clinic, was invited to give a speech on eyelid surgeries. Recently, we've received enquries about double eyelid surgeries. The following are some highlights of what Dr. Huang said during his speech. During the conference, Dr. Huang outlined the new trends of cosmetic eyelid surgeries and gave a detailed analysis. An analysis of the 541 cases of eyelid surgeries performed by Dr. Huang in 2017 led to the following conclusions:

1. Combining the five principal elements of aesthetic medicine, i.e. "light (laser phototherapy), energy (energy-based lifting treatments, e.g. HIFU Lifting), needle (botox injection, hyaluronic acid injection, etc.), thread (double eyelid sutures, thread lifts, etc.), and scalpel (eyelid cosmetic surgery)," leads to the best results.

2. Only 23% of the double eyelid surgeries involved incisions; the other 77% were all minimally invasive double eyelid surgeries. Under local anesthesia, minimally invasive surgeries resulted in small wounds that recover quickly, and some do not even require removing stitches after the operation. They are currently the method of choice and also the trend for the future.

3. Statistically speaking, about one out of every 4.3 clients who receive double eyelid surgeries will choose to receive canthoplasty at the same time. This shows that, for East Asians, epicanthic folds have a great impact on the shape and aesthetic properties of the eyes. This is consistent with reports from recent medical literature.

4. Eye bag surgeries are much less common than double eyelid surgeries (about 1:3.3). Problems with eye bags and tear troughs are often linked and should be treated together. Since tear troughs can usually be improved by some cosmetic microsurgery techniques (e.g. hyaluronic acid injections), the age at which most people choose to receive the surgery is often relatively late. This explains why it is often necessary to choose the transcutaneous incision approach when problems require surgical treatment. However, this type of eye bag surgery often leads to scarring. If the skin condition of the eye bag is operable, depending on the doctor’s assessment, the “transconjunctival incision” approach can be chosen instead. Through using the fat from the eyebags to fill the tear troughs, two problems can be solved simultaneously. This treatment does not require to remove stitches after operation; both the treatment and the recovery time are short, and there is no risk of developing ectropion. The abovementioned advantages help raise the acceptance and satisfaction rates.