Asian Double Eyelid

Double eyelid surgery or "Asian blepharoplasty" creates an eyelid crease resulting in a larger and more symmetric,  almond-shaped eye. The height from your upper lash line to the new eyelid crease is customized to your preference and existing anatomy.

Typically, individuals of North Eastern descent (e.g. China, Mongolia, Korea, Taiwan, and Japan) prefer a smaller eyelid height ranging from 3-6 mm. Whereas, individuals of South Eastern descent (e.g. Thailand, Vietnamese, Myanmar, Indonesia, and Malaysia) prefer a taller eyelid, ranging from 7-10 mm. Fat removal and excision of excess eyelid skin may also be necessary to achieve optimal results.

This procedure may also be performed with an epicanthoplasty, where the inner corner of your eye is extended medially towards your nose. The combination of these two procedures will lengthen the width and height of your eyes to enhance aesthetic appearance.

• Your eyelid drapes over too much of the upper half of your iris, or you are unsatisfied with the shape of your eyelid. 
• Your eyelids contain excess fat and your eyes appear puffy. 
• Your upper eyelid folds inward when you open your eyes, and this causes your eyelashes to brush against your cornea causing irritation and damage.

Full Incision

This technique is best suited for those patients with excess fat and skin in the upper eyelid. This method provides the most permanent results of the three methods listed here, however because there is an incision throughout most of the length of the new eyelid crease, there will be a visible scar. The eyelid skin is very thin, and the scar is typically cosmetically acceptable. After your plastic surgeon creates an incision, removal of excess skin and fat in the upper eyelid is performed as needed. The surgeon then utilizes sutures to mimic fibrous attachments that are naturally present in double eyelids. The length of the incision is then closed with sutures that will be removed in clinic 4-6 days after your surgery.

Partial Incision

This technique is best suited for those patients without excess skin but do have excess fat within their eyelids. Or the patient that has neither excess fat or skin but desires more reliable and durable results in comparison to the Non-Incisional method described below. 

The main benefit to this method is minimal scarring. Your plastic surgeon will create an incision along the upper border of the new eyelid crease but will keep the length of this incision as short as possible. This small incision will serve as your surgeon’s operative access point to remove excess fat. Because this small incision provides a much smaller surgical window than the full incisional method, it is a more difficult operation. 

Your surgeon will then utilize sutures to mimic fibrous attachments that are naturally present in double eyelids. The incision is then closed with sutures that will be removed in clinic 4-6 days after your surgery. Typically, an incision less than 5 millimeters will produce undetectable scarring.

No Incision

This method is ideal for patients that do not have excess fat or skin in their eyelids. The main advantage is the absence of an incisional scar and minimal to absent swelling. However, this method is not as resilient as the incisional methods and may produce a double eyelid that unfolds in the future. 

There is no incision, instead your plastic surgeon will create several tiny holes and pass sutures through these holes to (similar to the methods described above,) mimic fibrous attachments that are naturally present in double eyelids. All the sutures are buried underneath your eyelid skin. Therefore, you will not need to come into clinic for suture removal.

• Most patients experience minimal pain after surgery.
• Degree of swelling is patient specific and depends on the amount of trauma incurred by the surgery (e.g. incisional method with removal of fat and excess skin is significantly more traumatic than a partial incisional method without fat removal).
• Stiches removed 4-6 days after surgery for incisional methods.
• Bruising usually resolves at about 2 weeks.
• You may return to work (desk job) after 1 week. 
• You may drive 1-2 weeks after surgery.
• You may gradually resume physical activity 2-4 weeks after surgery.