Hooded eyes are observed when the excess or sagging skin and soft tissue between the eye and the eyebrow cover the eyelid. It makes the eyes look smaller and hides the naturally beautiful shape of the eyelid. It might be an innate feature or might be caused by aging. In both cases, it is resolvable by relevant plastic surgery. A procedure should be decided during a thorough consultation with an experienced plastic surgeon specializing in eyes and anti-aging. Suitable procedure or combination of procedures depends on many factors, such as the cause of hooded eyes (is it inborn or caused by aging), thickness and elasticity of the skin, percentage of eyelid coverage, and of course, the exact effect the patient wants to achieve.
In this article, we will introduce you to three effective plastic surgeries recommended by our anti-aging plastic surgeon to patients with hooded eyes.
1. Upper Blepharoplasty
Upper blepharoplasty is the most common procedure to remove sagging skin over the eyelids, revealing a beautiful and natural crease. This operation is often recommended for those who have sagging eyelids due to aging and the sagging skin is not excessively thick and can be safely removed along with the fat, without causing a visible scar.
The procedure starts with the incision made to remove the amount of fat and sagging skin tissue will be removed. Then the remaining tissue is lifted and firmly secured revealing a smooth and beautiful crease.
The surgery is very short (around 1h) and performed under sedation or local anesthesia. The recovery is very quick. You can come back to your normal daily activities almost right away after the surgery. The stitches are removed seven days after the procedure.
2. Subbrow Lift
Subbrow lift is also a very popular way to correct hooded eyes. Similarly to upper blepharoplasty it involves removing the excess skin between the eyelids and eyebrows and fixing the rest of the tissue in a place to make bigger and rounder eyelids. The main difference is the incision and suture site, which in this case would be located under the brow line. Therefore the scar will be well hidden, basically invisible. It is recommended for patients whose skin is thicker and must be lifted higher to bring a visible, satisfying effect. Our doctors often recommend it also to younger patients who want to get rid of hooded eyes, much caused congenitally.
During subbrow lift procedure, the incision is made just underneath the line of the eyebrows. After the excess skin and tissue is excised, the remaining is lifted, fixed, and sutured. The scar will be hidden under the eyebrows and should get invisible in 2 weeks – 1 month after the procedure. Similarly to upper blepharoplasty this surgery also involves sedation or local anesthesia, no hospitalization is needed and most patients can come back to their regular activities right after the surgery.
3. Endoscopic Forehead Lift
An endoscopic forehead lift will be the first and only hooded eyes correcting surgery on our list which doesn’t involve the incision in the area between the eyes and eyebrows. Even though areas around the eyes are untouched, this procedure results in incredible effects of improving the shape of the eyes and eyebrows, including solving the problem of hooded eyes.
The surgery is conducted under sedation and lasts around 1:20h. Tiny incisions are made underneath the hairline to fit the endoscope, through which the surgeon observes and removes the part of muscles and excess skin. Then, the skin and tissue are lifted and fixed tightly with endotine – dissolvable devices, resulting in reduced forehead wrinkles, improved shape of the forehead, eyebrows, and finally reduced “hoods” over the eyelids. Most patients can come back to their normal lifestyle next day after the surgery.
This surgery is more complex than the previous two, as it focuses on a larger area. It is often recommended to those who want to achieve not only improvement in their hooded eyes but also raise their frowning eyebrows and eliminate wrinkles on the forehead.
Performing endoscopic forehead lift only might not bring a dramatic result to those who have excessively thick skin and very low eyebrows. Or in cases when the skin is seriously sagging but patient expect a major enti-aging effect. In such a case, the best result should be expected when two surgeries – endoscopic forehead lift can be combined with other surgeries, such as subbrow lift or upper blepharoplasty. Following examples show patients who had two surgeries combined.
Conclusion
Looking at these examples we wrote about you can see that there is no procedure that always matches each and every case. For some patients, the most beneficial way to fix the hooded eyes will be upper blepharoplasty, while for someone it would be a subbrow lift or endoscopic forehead lift. Depending on the skin thickness and the complexity of the problem multiple surgeries might be advised. Therefore it is important to approach each case individually during the consultation when the doctor can interview the patient about the effect they want, asses the physical features, and recommend the most effective method or methods of correcting the hooded eyes.
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