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Droopy Upper Eyelids
With aging, the upper eyelid skin becomes excessive and droops over the double eyelid fold or eyelashes. The loose and excess skin causes the upper eyelid to appear tired or heavy and sometimes causing obstruction of the vision on the outer corners. This is more prominent on patient who has single eyelid fold. This phenomenon is also called Dermatochalasia of the upper eyelid.
Droopy upper eyelid are commonly caused by
- Ageing with excess skin (Dermatochalasia)
- Ageing with weakness of the upper eyelid attachments causing Ptosis
Ptosis of the upper eyelid could be due to weakness or stretching or thinning of the attachments (aponeurosis) to the upper eyelid, long term use of contact lenses resulting in overstretching of the eyelids or trauma to the upper eyelids or congenital ptosis due to weakness of muscle or nerve.
The technique for correction of Droopy Upper eyelid will depend on the cause. For Excess skin due to ageing, only an open upper blepharoplasty to remove the excess skin with or without repositioning the double fold is required. For droopy Upper Eyelid with Ptosis, an additional ptosis surgery to tighten the loose attachment is required.
What Is Ptosis Correction Surgery?
Ptosis of Upper eyelid is a phenomenon where the upper eyelid is unable to fully open and the vision may be impaired or blocked. The severity of the ptosis can be graded as mild, moderate or severe. Moderate and severe ptosis is medically indicated for surgical correction because it obstructs the visual field.
How is the procedure done?
The surgery may be done under local anaesthesia as day surgery. The upper eyelid muscle and its attachments to the tarsal plate is exposed through an upper eyelid incision. The upper eyelid muscle or levator aponeurosis is repositioned or reattached back to the tarsal plate with multiple sutures. At the same time the double fold is created or preserved.
