Lower Bleph Without Fat Removal? (photo)

It is possible to only remove lower lid skin, and not the fat bags.  The decision to remove any excess skin must be made at rest, not upon smiling. The excess skin is removed by a pinch technique and closed with Histocryl tissue glue.  No stitches needed 

The answer to your immediate question is that a lower blepharoplasty can be done without fat removal.  Skin removal alone is frequently done on the appropriate patient.  In regards to you in particular, it's difficult to give you accurate advice without seeing you in person.  It appears that you do have tear trough depressions below your eyes.  This could be improved with filling the area with hyaluronic acid fillers or fat.  It is also possible that you could benefit from removal of a small amount of skin on the lower eyelids.  

For blepharoplasty patients with true lower lid skin excess or redundancy, some skin must be removed to restore a youthful appearance. This is performed through a subciliary incision, which is an incision placed immediately below the lower lid lashes. This incision is hidden by the lower lid eyelashes and is almost always imperceptible once it has healed.

As with upper lid, skin excision of the lower lid should be very conservative, amounting to only that amount of skin that is necessary to improve the lower lid skin contour. The muscle layer below must remain completely undisturbed, as it provides horizontal support for the lower lid and helps to maintain the lid position flush against the surface of the eye. Excessive removal of lower lid skin may lead to a complication called ectropion, where the lower lid is pulled down and away from the surface of the eye. This complication often requires additional surgery to correct it, and must therefore great care must be taken to avoid it.

In eyelid surgery patients that do not have adequate lower lid tone or support, and in any patient felt to be at some risk of ectropion, a lateral canthopexy is performed to protect against that potential problem. The lateral canthus (the lateral corner of the eye) contains a tendon that attaches the lower lid tissues to the orbital rim laterally, and this tendon serves as a 'clothesline' that maintains lower lid position. A lateral canthopexy consists of an anchoring or supporting suture that tightens that tendon and thus the lower lid as well. When desired, a lateral canthopexy can also elevate the position of the lower lid. In patients who desire it, this procedure can produce a more 'almond' shape to the eyes.

Lower Eyelid Fat Pads or "Bags"

A very common aging change in the lower eyelids is the development of 'bags', which are in most cases due to an outward bulging of the fat pads behind the lower lids. These 'bags' of fat can be improved by conservative removal through an invisible incision on the inside of the lower lid (trans-conjunctival approach) in patients that do not require skin excision, or through the under-eyelash (sub-ciliary approach) in patients that are having some excess lower lid skin removed.

As with skin removal, I believe that the reduction (NOT total removal) of lower lid fat pads should be conservative. Excessive removal of lower lid fat pads results in a hollowed-out appearance that makes blepharoplasty patients look tired or even ill. I see quite a number of eyelid surgery patients who require structural fat grafting of the lower lids to improve that very problem following an over-aggressive lower blepharoplasty in the past.

In some case lower lid 'bags' can be improved by repairing or reinforcing the soft tissues that normally hold them back. Additionally, excessive lower lid fat can sometimes be mobilized and transposed inferiorly to fill in periorbital hollows or depressions such as the 'tear trough' at the medial junction of the lower lid and cheek.

Some eyelid 'bags' involve redundant muscle tissue which must be removed and/or repositioned, usually in patients who are in their sixties or older. This is performed through an under-eyelid (sub-ciliary) incision which is extended laterally into the 'crow's feet' area.