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Question About Upper Eyelid Surgery-Blepharoplasty and Permanent Dry Eyes. Thank You!
I am reading alot on upper blephaoplasty and dry eyes. Can a person without dry eyes (never had an issue in my life/now 50 years old) end up with permanent dry eyes after this upper eyelid operation? If it can happen, so I am knowledgeable, what would have had to occur for this to happen/or what would cause this? I know through others how dry eyes are irritating, troublesome, and a nuisance. Thank You!
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9 Doctor Answers |
Asked by
779296anon
in Florida
+2
Yes it is possible, but unlikely.
Dry eye symptoms after blepharoplasty is common, but 95+% of patients suffer from these symptoms temporarily.
Rarely, patients that are borderline dry eye but without symptoms, may tip over to a dry eye state after surgery. As mentioned by Dr. Prendiville in a well written response, a skin only excision is an excellent technique that would maximally preserve your eyelid closure muscles [orbicularis].
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Dry Eyes after Upper Eyelid Surgery
Dry eye symptoms after upper eyelid surgery are usually self-limited. I have not seen this after surgery for any longer than about 3 weeks. However, I usually only remove skin and perhaps the nasal fat pad, if necessary. I do not remove any of the muscle.
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Permanent dry eyes after upper blepharoplasty
There is a very small chance, approximately 2% to 3%, that performing a blepharoplasty can make current dry eyes even drier. Nobody really knows the mechanism, however, it is thought that removal of the orbicularis oculi muscle contributes to this. When patients have dry eyes, we never remove a portion of the muscle during the upper blepharoplasty procedure.
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Dry eyes after blepharoplasty
Patients that undergo eyelid surgery can often have temporary dry eyes or irritation; even patients with no prior history of dry eyes can have such symptoms. It is important to have a thorough evaluation of your eyes and eyelids prior to any eyelid surgery to assess for risk factors that can place you at an increased risk for temporary or even long-term risk for having dry eyes.
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Dry eyes after blepharoplasty
Upper blepharoplasty, if done aggressively, can cause the eyelids not to blink well and the eyes may not close completely, thereby causing dry eyes. It is important to be evaluated for dry eyes prior to surgery and the surgery be done conservatively by an experienced surgeon (i.e. oculoplastic surgeon).
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Dry eyes post bleph
This can occur post op but once the swelling goes down it fades away.soem patients may be borderline dry eye and asymptomatic,get a bleph and now become symptomatic.This has not been my experince.Before your bleph have it checked out.
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Dry Eyes with Blepharoplasty
It is rare to get dry eyes from upper eyelid blepharoplasty. It can happen in individuals with pre-existing dry eyes. If too much skin is removed and the patient cannot close the eyes completely then it can certainly happen. The most important thing to do proactively is to get a Schirmer's test done by an Optometrist or preferrably an Ophthalmologist. It measures your tear film (ability to produce tears). If it is normal then you are safe. If it is poor then you need to be aware that even...
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Avoiding dry eye syndrome following blepharoplasty
If you do not currently have dry eyes and do not use eye drops on a daily basis then it is very unlikely that you would develop dry eyes following only an upper eyelid blepharoplasty especially if the skin resection is done in a conservative manner so as to avoid any exposure of the cornea.
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Dry Eyes and Upper Eyelid Blepharoplasty
This is a great question. The answer is that dry eye syndrome is very common after upper eyelid surgery, but tends to be self limiting over the course of days to weeks. Those patients who have the most difficulty are those with unrecognized dry eyes and those unfortunate patients who have excessive upper eyelid skin removed. Generally speaking, dry eyes can be recognized through a patient's history or physical examination. Paradoxically, one of the most frequent complaints...
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