Every year, over 200,000 people undergo blepharoplasty or eyelid surgery in the United States. But while many people consider this a purely cosmetic procedure designed to correct wrinkled, saggy, or droopy eyelids, eyelid surgery can have medical benefits. It can be used to correct eye health and vision problems like severe eyelid drooping, dry eyes, irritation, and reduced vision caused by excess eyelid skin and fat cushions. Below, we review five medical reasons to consider Katy blepharoplasty and look at how this procedure can improve your eye health.
Severe Eyelid Drooping
Your eyelids may droop slightly as you grow older due to reduced muscle tone in the eyelids. However, the drooping can sometimes be so severe that it limits your vision. This condition is called ptosis and is often best treated through eyelid surgery. Ptosis, which can be caused by muscle damage, injury, or congenital defects, can make activities like driving difficult or even dangerous. Blepharoplasty can help alleviate drooping by tightening sagging skin to restore your full scope of vision.
Ectropion and Entropion
Entropion is an eye condition where your eyelid rolls or turns inward toward your eyeballs, while ectropion is a similar condition where the edge of your eyelid turns more outward than normal. Both conditions can make it difficult for you to close your eyes completely and cause other symptoms like light sensitivity, excessive tearing, and eye discomfort. Entropion, in particular, can be very uncomfortable. Since it is characterized by “turned-in” eyelids, it can cause your eyelashes to rub against your eye, resulting in ulcers, sores, and eye infections. Eyelid surgery can help correct the lid positions.
Eyelid Cancer
Eyelid surgery can sometimes be used to address eyelid cancer. Skin cancer often affects the areas of the skin that experience the most sun exposure, including the eyelids. In the case of squamous or basal cell carcinomas that appear in the eyelids, a surgeon may use eyelid surgery to extract cancerous cells. They may also use blepharoplasty to reconstruct your eyelid and restore your lid’s look and function.
Dry Eye Syndrome
Tears serve a crucial purpose in your body – they keep the surface of your eyes smooth, protect them from infection, and clear debris to keep your vision crisp. Drooping lower lids can reduce tear production, leading to chronic dry eyes. This problem can be even worse for patients over 50 as tear production also tends to decline around this age. Through eyelid surgery, your provider can tighten the muscles around your eyes, allowing better tear distribution.
Chronic Watery Eyes
When the drooping is in your upper eyelid, you may experience chronic watery eyes rather than dry eyes. This results from the weight of the sagging skin sitting too low on your eye and creating a pocket for tears to collect and leak out. Eyelid surgery can eliminate this pocket.
Pay Attention to Eyelid Problems
Eyelid surgery or blepharoplasty involves tightening and repairing the eyelid muscles and removing sagging skin or excess fat from around the eyes. Often done for cosmetic reasons, this procedure can eliminate problems like sagging eyelid skin and eye bags to make you look younger and more alert. However, it can also help restore and maintain your eye vision. This is why discussing any eyelid problems you notice with your doctor is important. Even seemingly minor problems like eye bags can snowball into vision problems if not addressed early. Contact them today to schedule a consultation.