Does Eyelid Surgery Leave Scars -

Does eyelid surgery leave scars? How to hide eyelid surgery scars? Overall, the incision points are in a discreet area, and there should be no visible scarring. If a scar is needed to improve your overall appearance, it could be disguised by using make-up or skin coloration products that are made specifically for this purpose.

You can most definitely get scars after eyelid surgery, but there are ways to make them less noticeable. Each surgeon has their own technique and expertise, so it is important to visit with several surgeons to find one who will give you the results and care that you want. In this guide, we review the answers to the following: Does Eyelid Surgery Leave Scars, lumpy scars after blepharoplasty, lower blepharoplasty scars healing, and how to hide eyelid surgery scars.

Without a doubt, one of the most common questions from patients considering cosmetic surgery is what kind of scars they will be left with. Thanks to modern science and technology, many procedures now result in fairly minimal scarring. Furthermore, a skilled surgeon can dramatically reduce the amount of visible scarring a patient will have by strategically placing incisions in areas where they can be easily concealed or camouflaged. However, it is still important to have realistic expectations for your procedure and understand what kind of scarring you may have.

Board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Michael Hakimi fully understands the desire to minimize surgical scars and utilizes the most advanced tools and techniques available in Beverly Hills, CA to give patients stunning results with as little scarring as possible. Learn more about one of the most exciting and popular cosmetic procedure, blepharoplasty, including how it works, when your incisions will heal, and what level of scarring you can expect after eyelid surgery.

What is blepharoplasty?

Also known as eyelid surgery or eyelid lift, blepharoplasty is a cosmetic procedure designed to address various concerns related to the eyelids and give patients a more natural, attractive overall appearance. Blepharoplasty can be performed on the upper eyelids, lower eyelids, or both, and is commonly used to correct one or more of the following:

Depending on the nature and severity of your concerns, Dr. Hakimi may recommend upper blepharoplasty, lower blepharoplasty, or a combined eyelid surgery to help you achieve your ideal look.

How does upper blepharoplasty work?

In many cases, upper eyelid surgery can be performed as an outpatient procedure using local anesthesia, allowing patients to enjoy a quicker and more comfortable recovery. During the procedure, Dr. Hakimi will make a precise and delicate incision along the crease of the upper eyelid. Excess skin will be trimmed, and Dr. Hakimi may also perform fat removal, fat grafting, muscle repair, or another technique if needed. At the conclusion of the case, Dr. Hakimi will close the incisions with fine sutures. Typically, upper blepharoplasty takes about one hour to complete.

Does Eyelid Surgery Leave Scars

Eyelid surgery is a highly-sought-after procedure and there are many different types of eyelid surgery: blepharoplasty, ptosis repair, brow lift and more. Eyelid surgery can help you achieve the look you’ve always wanted but didn’t know was possible. The results can be dramatic and life-changing! But what about scars? Does eyelid surgery leave scars? How long does it take for them to heal? And how do they look once the swelling goes down? Here’s what you need to know about this common concern:

Blepharoplasty incisions are placed in natural creases.

In general, the incision is placed in a natural crease. This means that the incision itself is not visible because it is hidden by your eyelid. It’s important to note that this type of surgery requires an experienced plastic surgeon who can use their expertise to create an invisible scar line.

Sutures are typically removed after a week.

Sutures are typically removed after a week. For transconjunctival blepharoplasty, sutures are typically removed 1-2 days after surgery.

The removal of your stitches will likely be done by the doctor who performed your eyelid surgery and can usually be done in his office.

Sutures are removed after 1-2 days for transconjunctival blepharoplasty.

Sutures are removed after a week for blepharoplasty.

Postoperative swelling and bruising can take several weeks to completely resolve.

When you have eyelid surgery, you can expect swelling and bruising to take several weeks to completely resolve. Swelling is a normal part of the healing process; however, excessive swelling may indicate that you have an infection or other complication. Bruising can last from one week to several months after surgery depending on your skin type and whether you are taking blood thinners such as aspirin or Coumadin (warfarin).

To minimize bruising: ice packs should be applied immediately after surgery; compression bandages may also help reduce swelling if desired by your surgeon; elevate your head as much as possible for 24 hours after surgery; wear sunglasses when outdoors until any swelling has subsided so that sun exposure does not cause further damage to already fragile tissues. Avoid vigorous exercise until healing has progressed sufficiently because strenuous activity could cause more bleeding under the sutures leading to additional bruising around the eyes which could take even longer than normal healing time (upwards of six weeks) before resolving itself again

A special ointment helps decrease scar visibility.

After your eyelid surgery, you will be given a special ointment to apply at home. This ointment helps decrease scar visibility and can be used for up to six months after your procedure.

The ointment is applied once or twice daily just before bedtime. It’s important not to wash it off with water or soap before going to bed; this could cause irritation around your eyes that would make them appear redder than usual when you wake up in the morning.*
After each application of the ointment, gently massage it into skin around your eye area until no traces remain (about 30 seconds). You should then wait about 10 minutes before washing off any residue with cool water.*
If possible, avoid rubbing eyes during this time period–this will only make matters worse!

Scars may remain pink or red for 6-12 months after surgery.

Scars may remain pink or red for 6-12 months after surgery. Scars will fade over time, but it takes at least 6 months for them to become white and less noticeable. In some cases, they may stay red for up to 12 months after surgery.

Scars will also look different depending on the type of eyelid surgery performed:

Blepharoplasty (eyelid lift): The incision line is typically thin and well-hidden behind your natural crease line in the upper eyelid crease area; however, there may be an occasional visible scar along this incision line if you have excess skin above it due to aging or weight gain/loss–this is usually not noticeable unless someone points it out to you directly! If so much excess skin has been removed that no natural crease exists anymore then there won’t be any visible incision lines at all because nothing needs cutting through anymore! This means no more worrying about what people think when they see scars afterwards!
Lower Blepharoplasty (lower lid removal): In general terms lower blepharoplasties involve removing excess fat deposits under each eye as well as tightening up laxity within its surrounding tissues by tightening muscle attachments along their borders while leaving behind soft tissue structures such as nerves/blood vessels etc.. Depending upon how much work needs done depends on whether there would be any visible scarring afterward.”

Although any surgical procedure leaves a scar, eyelid surgery incisions are well-hidden, and the scars typically fade quickly.

Although any surgical procedure leaves a scar, eyelid surgery incisions are well-hidden and the scars typically fade quickly. The location of your incision will dictate how visible it is. The lower lid incision, for example, is usually hidden under the eyelashes and not visible unless you look closely at your eye with magnification or in bright light.

Eyelid scars can be reduced by using a scar cream that contains silicone–such as Mederma® Gel ($11) or silicone sheets like Surgi-Lips® ($40). These products help improve healing time by helping prevent scab formation while reducing redness and itching associated with healing wounds (as well as minimizing scarring). People with darker skin tend to have more prominent scars after surgery than those with lighter complexions do; however, patients who have undergone blepharoplasty (eyelid lift) report being pleased with their results despite having noticeable scars on their upper lids prior to treatment.

lumpy scars after blepharoplasty

Scars, which form as a response to a wound such as a minor burn, cut, or abrasion, are part of the body’s natural healing process. In most cases, scars usually grow smaller and fade over time, but in some people, the skin can overreact to the damage and lead to scars that are much larger than the original wound. These scars are called keloids.

Signs and Symptoms of Keloids

Keloids can be more than just skin imperfections. Depending on the size of the scar and where it is on the body, it can affect how well you can move that area of the body. And for some people, physical symptoms such as pain or itchiness can impact your psychological health. Others may feel that their keloid is noticeable or unsightly and that may take a toll on their emotional well-being.

Common Questions & Answers

Causes and Risk Factors of Keloids

If you are prone to developing keloids, any type of skin injury that can cause a scar can lead to the formation of a keloid. Some common causes of keloids include:

In rare cases, keloids can form on skin that hasn’t been injured. These are referred to as spontaneous keloids.

How Are Keloids Diagnosed?

Keloids are usually diagnosed by a dermatologist who will take your medical history and conduct a visual examination of the scar to check its size, shape, and growth pattern. Your doctor may also perform a skin biopsy to rule out more serious conditions such as nodular scleroderma, a type of connective tissue disease, or lobomycosis, a fungal infection of the skin.

Prognosis of Keloids

While keloids are benign (noncancerous) growths, they are nevertheless difficult to treat and frequently grow back even after they are surgically removed. But your dermatologist may be able to suggest measures that can help reduce the odds of keloids returning after treatment or at least ways to minimize their appearance.

Duration of Keloids

Keloids can continue to grow for months or even years. They eventually stop growing but they do not disappear without treatment. In some cases, as mentioned above, keloids can return after they have been removed.

Treatment and Medication Options for Keloids

Keloids generally do not need to be treated. But treatment may be helpful if a keloid scar causes discomfort or hampers movement (if it covers a joint or a large area, for example). People may also seek treatment for a keloid if the scar impacts their self-esteem and how they feel about their appearance. For instance, if the scar is large or is located in a very visible place on your body, your doctor may be able to help you find ways to reduce the size and prominence of the keloid.

There is no one treatment that works best for all keloids. Dermatologists typically tailor the treatment to the individual based upon factors such as age and type of keloid. Keloids are difficult to banish completely, and using more than one type of treatment often improves results. Dermatologists therefore often recommend two or more types of treatments for their patients.

Treatment options for keloid scars include:

Medication Options

Alternative and Complementary Therapies

While there are a number of products on the market that claim to be effective for prevention or treatment of keloids, there isn’t a lot of research that provides solid evidence to support those claims. Here are two alternative and complementary therapies that have some science behind them.

Related: What Are ‘Natural’ Skin-Care Products, and Are They Actually Better for You?

Prevention of Keloids

Complications of Keloids

Keloids usually don’t pose a threat to your health and may not need to be treated. But keloids that are prominent and visible, such as those that occur on the face, may also impact a person’s self-esteem, and treatment may help address that.

Research and Statistics: Who Has Keloids?

Black, Hispanic, and Asian Individuals and Keloids

People who have darker skin have a higher risk for developing keloids than people with fairer complexions. Researchers are working to learn more about how genetics may play a role in keloid formation in the hopes that one day, we may be able to find new methods of diagnosis, prevention, and treatment for this condition.

Related Conditions and Causes of Keloids

Some skin conditions can resemble keloids and require a diagnosis from a doctor to identify them. They include:

Hypertrophic Scars Experts differ as to whether these scars are really different from keloids, but there do seem to be some differences.

Nodular Scleroderma Also known as keloidal scleroderma, nodular scleroderma is rare form of systemic sclerosis, an autoimmune disease that affects the connective tissues. Nodular scleroderma can cause the development of firm plaques or nodules on the skin — typically on the upper trunk, arms, face, and neck — that look like keloids.

Lobomycosis Also known as keloidal blastomycosis or Lobo disease, this chronic fungal skin infection can cause the development of keloid-like lesions. It’s more common in the Amazon region and in South and Central American countries.

lower blepharoplasty scars healing

Blepharoplasty is one of the safest and least traumatic operations in plastic surgery, arousing undiminished interest. But, like any other plastic reconstruction, eye lift is associated with the risk of complications. Patients are especially frightened by the likelihood of skin scars. Doctors of the Clinic of Plastic Cosmetic Surgery in Poltava know how to prevent the occurrence of undesirable effects after blepharoplasty and how to deal with them if any.

When scars will be healed up after blepharoplasty

When performing blepharoplasty, surgeons make small incisions along the natural eyelid crease in order to improve their shape. And although the intervention is minimal, fresh scars need time to resolve.

This process proceeds individually, taking about 10-12 weeks from the day of the operation. The rate of recovery is influenced not only by the regeneration age peculiarities, but also by the location of the incision. In the eyelashes growth zone, the lift surgery wounds are closed faster than in the upper eyelid due to a more active blood supply. Three months after the plastic surgery, the incision sites are smoothed and brighten, becoming indistinguishable from the rest of the eyelid skin. If the appearance of blepharoplasty scars continues to cause concern in three months after the lift, you should consult a doctor for treatment of undesirable consequences.

The only way to avoid scarring after a lower lid lift surgery is to provide transconjunctival access to the tissues during plastic surgery through the eye mucosa.

How to prevent the appearance of scars?

The main causes of impaired scar healing or the occurrence of indurations after blepharoplasty:

The presence of underlying risk for the formation of keloid scars is checked at the stage of preparation for surgery. And the fulfillment of the doctor’s prescriptions falls on the shoulders of the patients themselves. To avoid complications after blepharoplasty, you must:

With compliance of all the recommendations, the risk of scarring after blepharoplasty is minimized.

How to remove postoperative scars

If the eye lift did lead to undesirable consequences, the doctor may suggest several options for resolving the problem, including conservative, hardware, and operational techniques.

It is possible to accelerate the resolution of scars after blepharoplasty by applying silicone-based ointments and other preparations promoting regeneration.

More complicated problem incidents are eliminated surgically, removing the excess of connective tissue formed during healing.

Among the hardware techniques in the elimination of the effects of lifting the most effective technique is laser resurfacing. Laser resurfacing helps to remove not only the scars, but also many of the signs of impending aging due to the removal of the skin upper layers and stimulation of tissue regeneration.

The Clinic of Plastic Cosmetic Surgery in Poltava has its own patented method of fighting against scars on the eyelids, against the consequences of blepharoplasty, including surgery with cartilage allogenic graft transplantation.

Why do indurations appear after blepharoplasty?

The appearance of scars after lifting is more often observed on the lower eyelid, but the upper one is also subject to a similar issue. An increased risk of disrupting the natural scar healing process can be caused by:

Chirapsia, stretching, strong massage of the skin in the surgery area can also lead to indurations around the sutures. This is due to the chaotic arrangement of collagen fibers in the young scar, which does not allow the edges of the wound to resist stretching.

In order to prevent such a situation, surgeons recommend patients who have resorted to blepharoplasty to apply strip-patches after eye lift and to avoid touching their eyelids for a couple of weeks. Physical impact is accompanied by blood flow and acceleration of collagen production, which prevents resorption of the accumulated connective tissue. If this happens, and instead of a thin scar a few months after blepharoplasty there is a rough, ugly scar formed, you should contact your surgeon.

Give up on self-treatment. Fulfillment of medical recommendations is a guarantee of quick healing and resorption of scars. Observing the tissues condition after the lifting, the surgeon can prescribe wound-healing, anti-scar drugs, physiotherapy procedures (irritative current therapy, lymphatic drainage).

To speed up the resorption of scars, the doctor may prescribe injections of glucocorticosteroids or topical preparations after healing of the cuts. In case of failure of conservative treatment for 2-3 months after eyelid lifting, the doctor may recommend surgery to remove excess connective tissue in the scar.

It is worth remembering that the regeneration processes are different in each body, so in some cases the scar healing process after blepharoplasty can take up to six months.

Nodules at a suture resorption site

For minimal traumatizing to the tissues of the eyelid at the wound edges approximation after lifting, most surgeons use fine suture with round bodied needle, dissolvable in two weeks to two months. In case of normal recovery after blepharoplasty, the indurations disappear as the suture dissolves. But the nodules may remain in the future due to:

The most common cause of the problem after plastic surgery is the superficial sutures arrangement, leading to their partial, rather than complete resorption. For elimination of consequences, it is enough to remove the residual suture from the scar.

While preserving the swelling, a careful massage of the eyelids will help to correct the situation; the attending physician will show you the technique of the procedure. And if the problem persists for more than 2.5 months from the day of the lifting, the surgeon can make point cuts in order to remove the remaining sutures from the scar or prescribe injections of preparations for sutures absorption.

Fat lumps

When correcting the shape of the eyelids with lipofilling along with blepharoplasty, an uneven distribution of adipose tissue or poor treatment of graft can cause the formation of fat indurations. They are especially noticeable under the extremely delicate skin of the lower eyelid.

how to hide eyelid surgery scars

The skin of the eyelids is excellent at hiding scars, and any blepharoplasty scars will be hidden in the fold of the upper eyelid, making them nearly invisible on most people.

How easy is it to hide blepharoplasty scars?

The skin of the eyelids is excellent at hiding scars, and any blepharoplasty scars will be hidden in the fold of the upper eyelid, making them nearly invisible on most people. The only way the blepharoplasty scars would potentially be visible, is when there is a hood of skin to be removed which extends beyond the eyelid, however, again for most people this blepharoplasty scar becomes invisible.

The blepharoplasty scar of the lower eyelid will heal very well, and it is disguised under the eyelashes and in the crows feet.

In most cases, blepharoplasty scars fade to become virtually undetectable. Make-up can be used to camouflage any scarring which remains visible.

Do eyelids scar easily?

Eyelids do not scar easily, as eyelid skin heals very quickly, more quickly than most other parts of the body.

It is common for eyelids to scar following blepharoplasty, but these will eventually fade to become almost invisible.

A state of the art, award winning clinic.

Founded in 2004 by world renowned plastic surgeon Mr Bryan Mayou, we now work with over 100 leading consultants and successfully treat over 20,000 patients each year. We have been winning industry awards since inception.

All of our treatments take place at our beautiful boutique premises in Chelsea. We have six consulting rooms and five operating rooms, as well as a dedicated pre and post-operative suite, and a full team of specialist nursing staff.

A Strong Tradition of Innovation

We were founded in 2004 by world renown plastic surgeon Mr Bryan Mayou, best known for his pioneering work in the area of liposuction, lasers and microvascular surgery. We continue to collaborate with pioneers in our field.

At Home in Sloane Street, London

We are proud that our state of the art award-winning clinic is located in one of the best neighbourhoods in the country

We offer surgical consultations in London, Birmingham, Chelmsford and Bristol, and attract international patients from all corners of the globe such as as the USA, the Middle East and Europe.

How can my surgeon hide scars in my eyelid area after blepharoplasty?

The Cadogan Clinic’s expert surgeons will be able to hide blepharoplasty scars in the folds of the upper eyelid. When surgery is carried out on the lower eyelid, these are concealed by eyelashes and in naturally-occurring crows feet.

How long does it take for blepharoplasty scars to fade?

It takes around six weeks to make a complete recovery from blepharoplasty. However the incision can take up to a year to heal.

How do you prevent scarring after blepharoplasty?

Eyelid skin heals quickly and effectively, leaving absolutely minimal scarring in most cases. Often this scarring is impossible to detect. Some people use silicone-based scar cream to help with the appearance of surgery scars. We do not recommend using any creams in the immediate aftermath of surgery. If you are thinking about possibly using any such creams in the future, you should discuss this further with your Cadogan Clinic surgeon.

To help minimise the risk of scarring and to help with the overall healing process, it is important that you carefully follow all the aftercare instructions as issued by the surgeon.

A cold compress, such as a packet of frozen peas wrapped in a tea towel, and sitting up in bed for the first night post-surgery may help to aid healing. It is very important that you keep the affected area dry for the first week, avoiding showers for the first seven days. You must also avoid activities such as exercise and sex until advised by your surgeon. You may wish to wear sunglasses to protect your eyes from the sun and the wind. Avoid wearing contact lenses and rubbing your eyes. Smoking should also be avoided as it can irritate your eyes and delay the healing process.

As part of your blepharoplasty procedure at the Cadogan Clinic, we offer a complimentary consultation and treatment with our onsite team of aestheticians to ensure you heal and scar quickly and efficiently. Book an appointment with us today at our award-winning premises in Chelsea.