Blepharoplasty or Brow Lift for Female Patient in Early 20s? (photo)

Interesting opinions by some other responders.  The question that must be answered before considering any procedure is, "What anatomic feature is causing the appearance of heaviness that I do not like?". When the responsible feature is known, then it becomes clear where to address surgical treatment efforts, or non-surgical possibilities.  

Brow shaping and upper blepharoplasty may help, and I would open the upper eyelid slightly by levator advancement because of your low marginal reflex distance.  Would consider lateral canthopexy as well to slightly raise lower lid margin.  Would defer brow or forehead procedure unless eyelid procedure incompletely successful.

Of course, this is only a guess based upon submitted photos.  Personal evaluation must precede formulation of surgical plans.

You have a straight brow and a naturally hooded eyelid, and your temples and brows do not have much fat. There are multiple attractive celebrities and other young people with this anatomy, but it makes it diffucult to wear many eye shadow styles and requires careful grooming of brows. If you've decided you want to pursue plastic surgery, then brow lift, volumizing, and upper blepharoplasty are all options, but I'd start with minimally invasive procedures and go from there. At your age, volumizing the temples and upper brows with fillers will provide more skin exposure for eye shadows and will look more natural than a brow lift. If this isn't enough for you, a small amount of skin removal from the upper lid would also help. Do realize, though, that you will be getting an improved version of your current lid shape, not a different shape over all. 

It appears that you have a familial type problem that I see in my office relatively frequently. Although you have features that could be improved by both an upper blepharoplasty (eyelid) and brow lift, I would recommend just doing an upper eyelid procedure at this time to remove the heaviness and skin redundancy (skin rests on your lashes in some of the photos) and at the same time shorten your muscle (levator muscle) so that it opens a bit more. The brow lift can be saved for years later.

Your eyebrow is DEFLATED, meaning it is relatively hollow.  Do NOT do brow lift.  Although conservative upper blepharoplasty can help with the appearance of the upper eyelid, a better option might be filler/fat injection into your eyebrows.  See an oculoplastic or facial plastic surgeon for proper evaluation and treatment options.

  I think you will get different opinions on this question and none of them are wrong.  But personally, I'd advocate upper blepharoplasty instead of browlift since it is a less invasive procedure.

Thanks for the pictures.  Your photos suggest that a browlift would be my first recommendation to elevate the lateral brow position.  This will make the lateral upper lids appear less heavy and correct the concerns for a masculine appearance.  For optimal support of future skin aging, the upper lid blepharoplasty should also be considered to anchor the upper lid folds in a more open position as well.  So, I would recommend you consider both procedures for best balance.