It used to be that surgeons removed the fat from around a woman’s eyes when performing a blepharoplasty (eyelid or under-eye surgery). Doctors reasoned that excess fat had to be eliminated in order to tighten the appearance of the eyes.

New techniques have changed all that, according to Jeffrey R. Raval, MD, FACS, triple-board certified facial plastic surgeon who has performed rejuvenating eye surgeries on hundreds of patients—men and women. Instead of removing the fat, Dr. Raval is doing more fat repositioning procedures, building up the wall of fat in the skin under the eyes and adjusting the fat cells in that area. The result is a more youthful appearance rather than the sunken, hollow-eyed look when the fat under the eye is removed.

“The eyes are the first area of the face to show one’s age,” says Dr. Raval. As people age, muscles weaken, skin stretches and fat accumulates around the eyes causing the appearance of fatigue and stress. More than 230,000 people a year undergo eyelid lifts to regain a younger, firmer looking eye area. The procedure can be performed on either the lower or upper eyelids or both and can be combined with other facial procedures.

Upper eyelid surgery is more likely to involve fat removal, explains Dr. Raval. That’s because the upper eyelid tends to droop as we age, and the accumulation of fat above the eyes needs to be reduced slightly to achieve a more sculpted, youthful shape that enhances the brow and makes the upper eyelid visible again.

One complaint that many women have prior to seeking a blepharoplasty is that they go to the effort of putting on eye make-up that no one can see because their eyelids are too puffy.

Patients with exceptionally droopy upper eyelids can find that their vision is impaired. A blepharoplasty to correct that condition is sometimes covered by medical insurance, as it’s not considered simply a cosmetic surgery.

Contact Dr. Jeffrey Raval for a consultation regarding blepharoplasty surgery or fat repositioning by calling 303-744-2300.

My mid-50s girlfriends got together last week for dinner—something we’ve been doing for nearly 30 years every couple of months. It had been half a year since I’d been able to join them and while this is a group of women that’s healthily interested in keeping up their looks, I could see a lot of difference—more wrinkles, deeper frown lines, dull complexions. It caused me to take a good hard look at myself in the mirror the next morning and while there’s plenty more I could elect to do for myself, I’m thoroughly pleased that four years ago I underwent a blepharoplasty in Dr. Raval’s care.

As Dr. Raval pointed out to me then, the eyes are the first place on the face to give up our age as a rule. My eyes had begun to have thicker lids, and when I smiled for family photographs, my eyes then looked more like narrow slits than the eyes I had as a much younger woman.

Besides the blepharoplasty for upper eyelid surgery, Dr. Raval performed an under-eye surgery to re-build the wall of fat under my eye that had in the course of aging drooped, allowing my lower eyelids to show slight bags on most mornings. Five years later, my eyes are the youngest looking part about me when I get up in the morning. I don’t have any of the “cat-eye” look that some of my acquaintances seem to have after their eye surgeries either, and I’m so glad for Dr. Raval’s skill as a surgeon. He explained to me prior to my lower eyelid surgery that the cat-eye look is a matter of technique versus more than anything else. One of my friends had surgery performed by an eye doctor who advised her to forego the under-eyelid surgery because the cat-eye look would be the result. She now says she’s disappointed that she didn’t go ahead with the under-eyelid surgery by Dr. Raval instead.

It’s amazing to me after five years time that the eyes-wide-open look that blepharoplasty can afford me is still as becoming as it was a month after surgery.

This is a procedure I would never regret and will recommend to anyone who asks!
–Mid-50s and seeing clearly.

To make a consultation appointment with Dr. Jeffrey R. Raval, triple-board certified facial plastic surgeon, call 303-744-2300. Dr. Raval has practices in Denver and Lone Tree, Colorado.