Eyelid Surgery FAQ

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE FOR EYELID SURGERY TO HEAL?

After eyelid surgery, recovery time depends on what kind of surgery was performed. If simple eyelid surgery was performed, then it only takes 1-2 weeks to heal.

However, if double eyelid surgery is performed, recovery may take longer. Double eyelid surgery is where a monolid is surgically changed to a double lid. The reason that blepharoplasty Asian eyes surgery takes longer to heal is because it is a more invasive surgery. Double fold eyelid surgery and Korean eyelids surgeries involve attaching eyelid skin to the deeper layer tarsus and eyelid levator muscle known as the “levator aponeurosis.”

For most patients, the answer to how long it takes for eyelid surgery to heal relates to when sutures are removed, which is generally within five to seven days. In some blepharoplasty Asian eyes surgery such as lower eyelid surgery, the sutures can be removed in three to four days after surgery. As mentioned, simple blepharoplasty swelling will resolve within two weeks. However, when patients present with a monolid, the surgery where a double lid is created will take a little longer. Korean eyelid surgery uses a more sophisticated technique compared to typical Asian eyelid surgery techniques. Thus, Korean eyelid surgery swelling will resolve faster. Overall, after double fold eyelid surgery, in two weeks fifty percent of the swelling is resolved. In one month after the double fold eyelid surgery, eighty percent of the swelling is resolved. And three months after the double fold eyelid surgery, ninety to one hundred percent of the swelling is resolved.

Dr. Kenneth Kim specializes in fast-recovery eyelid surgery. Dr. Kim’s blepharoplasty Asian eyes surgery heals remarkably fast compared to traditional blepharoplasties because he utilizes the latest Korean eyelid techniques. Korean eyelids or Asian eyelids typically present with a monolid and therefore the surgery involves not only creating double-lidded eyes but also removal of eyelid skin. Making a monolid to double eyelid is invasive but the key is to make the surgery minimally invasive. When the eyelid surgery is performed in this fashion, then fast recovery will result from simple eyelid surgery to a more involved double eyelid surgery.

WHAT ARE THE CAUSES OF REVISION DOUBLE EYELID SURGERY?

There are a few reasons for a revision double-fold eyelid surgery. One reason is that the double lidded eyes look unnatural. The double fold eyelid may not look natural because the fold has obvious scars that are very visible. The double fold is especially visible when the patient closes their eyes. The reason why the double fold looks unnatural is that the suturing has connected the eyelid skin to the underlying deeper levator aponeurosis or the tarsus. When a traditional suturing method is performed to the monolid, then the scar or the knot on the eyelid will be visible.

Another common reason for the revision double-fold eyelid surgery is that the height of the double lid is either too small or too high.

In the case of a small double lid, the surgeon did not anticipate the hooding of the skin that would occur after the conversion of the monolid to a double eyelid. Therefore, in order to correct the small double lid, either a higher double eyelid fold is created or the excess upper eyelid skin should be excised. In the case of a high double eyelid fold or large double eyelid fold, the correction is more difficult. If the patient has excess eyelid skin in his or her double lidded eyes, then a lower double eyelid fold can be created. The excess skin is then excised from the new double eyelid fold to the prior double eyelid fold.

Dr. Kenneth Kim has performed hundreds of revision double eyelid surgery. Dr. Kim’s extensive experience in revising unnatural double-fold eyelid has been demonstrated in his peer-reviewed publications regarding these surgeries.

Dr. Kenneth Kim is located in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, California. Dr. Kim performs revision double eyelid surgery on patients not only in California but also patients throughout America, Canada, South America, Europe, and Asia. Dr. Kenneth Kim has presented on revision double lid fold to the Korean Plastic Surgery conferences in Seoul, South Korea. Dr. Kim focuses his revision on making the double eyelid fold look as natural as possible by removing the prior unnatural scar and resets the double lid height at the desired new height.

DOES EXCESS SKIN INCREASE THE CHANCE OF DOUBLE EYELID FOLD LOSS?

In patients with excess eyelid skin, performing a double-fold eyelid surgery using the non-incision or the thread method carries a high chance of eyelid fold-loss. Many patients choose to receive non-incision double eyelid surgery or the thread method to make the double-lidded eyes. However, certain patients are good candidates and some are not. This is because non-incision double eyelid surgery (the thread double eyelid surgery) does not use the mechanism of scar formation to create the double lid.

In Asian blepharoplasty or Korean eyelid surgery, there is an incision method or a non-incision method. The non-incision method, also known as the thread method, is a unique method where the skin of the eyelid is not cut to make the fold. Therefore, a monolid can be converted to double eyelid without leaving a scar on the double-lidded eyes. For this reason, the thread method double eyelid surgery has become a popular form of Asian eyelid surgery and Korean eyelid surgery. However, the thread method has the downside of potentially losing the double lid fold after some time.

One of the important factors that will determine whether or not the patient will lose the double fold is if there is excess upper eyelid skin. Patients with excess eyelid skin will have excess weight that will push down on the double lid. This weight will inhibit the double eyelid fold from invaginating fully. The excess weight will also make the double lid slide and make the double eyelid fold to loosen or become smaller.

Therefore, if the patient has a monolid with excess eyelid skin, then it is advisable to undergo incision double eyelid surgery where the excess skin is removed. If the patient with the excess skin insists on having a suture technique, then the double eyelid fold has to be created in a high position to create a high or large double lid. But again, a high double eyelid fold will still have a greater chance of losing the double eyelid fold than a smaller double eyelid fold.

Dr. Kenneth Kim performs the suture double eyelid surgical technique. Dr. Kim has performed numerous revision surgeries to restore the double eyelid after the initial surgery has lost its power to hold double eyelid fold. Dr. Kenneth Kim will either perform a double eyelid surgery again by the non-incision method or with the incision method. Located in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, California, Dr. Kenneth Kim has worked with numerous leading South Korean plastic surgeons to determine why double eyelid folds loosen over time. During the consultation, Dr. Kim will explain the options available to you for correcting a loose double eyelid fold and recommend an Asian eyelid surgery or Korean eyelid surgery method that will best correct the lost double lid.

HOW LONG DOES THE SUTURE TECHNIQUE DOUBLE EYELID LAST?

Patients are often curious about how long the results of a suture-technique for double eyelid surgery will last. To address this question, we must first define a suture technique double eyelid surgery. The suture method is an advanced surgical technique for double eyelid surgery. A double-fold eyelid can be created without making an incision on the eyelid by applying a nylon suture along the eyelids. This nylon suture creates a higher supratarsal fold on the upper eyelid.

A nylon suture is a permanent suture that is threaded from the superficial part of the eyelid to the deeper layer of the eyelid including the levator aponeurosis and the tarsus. This threading changes the monolid to the double lid in an effective manner. The swelling is minimal and the patient can see a double lid result immediately after their surgery.

Some patients refer to this non-incision double eyelid surgery as the Korean eyelid surgery because it has been popularized by plastic surgeons in South Korea.

So will this non-incision suture technique double-fold eyelid surgery last forever? The short answer is no, but more specifically, the duration of the result is usually unknown. What this means is that in some patients, the double lid will stay strong and last over 15 years while in some patients, the double-lidded eyes disappear within one to five years. Who loses the double lid and who will maintain the double-lidded eyes is highly unpredictable.

One main factor that will increase the chance of double fold loosening is if the patient has eyelid ptosis. Another factor is if their eyelid skin is thick and has excess skin hooding. These patients with excess skin will lose the double eyelid fold much faster than patients without excess skin.

Dr. Kenneth Kim has been performing the suture technique for double eyelid surgery for more than 10 years.