Blepharoplasty to Tighten Fragile Cheeks Skin?

Jane,
I'd be very cautious about doing a lower eyelid lift for cheek skin wrinkling. Something about the story doesn't add up. Although you've had several reasons to explain the problem, without a photograph it is all the more complex to discuss your situation. Consider a few consultations with board certified plastic surgeons. You're too young to have someone jump into a blepharoplasty and learn a lesson. I would recomend several opinions in your area. They have great plastic surgeons in Florida.
Best WIshes,
DoctorMeade

Removing eyelid skin in an attempt to lift up and smooth out sagging or wrinkled cheek skin is a bad idea. It is more likely to cause lower lid retraction (pull down of the eyelids) than lift up of the cheeks. The cheeks are heavier and will win that tug of war 9 times out of 10!

Dear Jane,
It is difficult to determine what would be best for you without a proper examination. Several factors -- eye condition/dryness, position of the eyelids, eyelid laxity, shape of the cheeks and eyelid hollows, and degree of change you are looking for.
There are several approaches, limited skin excision (pinch bleph), full lower lid rejuvenation with fat transfer and canthal support, fat transfer only, treatment with laser or Thermage.

It really depends here how much skin we are talking about and how much wrinkles there are. It is unrealistic to think it can tighten the entire cheek area. But you can get an improvement for the lower eyelid area.
So it is difficult to tell you what you can achieve without a proper exam, especially with what you are describing.
Good luck.

The problem you are describing sounds like you may have festoons and not excess skin of the lower lid. Festooning is a problem that we see in an older population but, in someone with your medical history of steroid use anything is possible. Attempting to remove or elevate skin of the cheek using blepharoplasty techniques is a dangerous proposition. You will likely not really address the problem and can easily cause further damage to your eyelid.

A blepharoplasty is a poor choice for tightening lower eyelid skin. It can cause pulling down of the lower eyelid, rounding of the eye, giving it an unnatural, operated appearing shape.
We use short incision cheeklifts (USIC) for this purpose. Cheeklifts can be used to tighten lower eyelid skin with very low risk to the lower eyelid shape.

Blepharoplasty is very effective at tightening upper and lower eyelid skin, but it is not realistic to expect long-term cheek skin tightening with this procedure. For a minor amount of skin excess, you will be better off with laser skin resurfacing, a chemical peel, or an aggressive skin care regimen which utilzes retinols.
Hope this helps. Best of luck.

Lower blepharoplasty is a procedure best suited for excessive fat or dark circles of the lower eyelids. It can also be useful to remove excess lower eyelid skin. It is not a good procedure to tighten the nearby cheek area skin since the weight of that skin is too much gravity for the lower eyelid margin to support. This is analgous to a hammock with a very fat person in the middle. It will sag in that area. For the same reason to try to lift the cheeks from the eyelids will result in the eyelids pulling downward in an unnatural way. A better option for improving the texture or the wrinkles in that area is laser resurfacing or medium chemical peels depending upon the extent of the crepiness or skin texture. I hope this information helps.

Hi Jane
The corticosteroids as you recognize can damage the facial skin. You are dealing with a situation where the doctors you will be seeing will essentially have zero experience dealing with your situation. No one knows exactly how your skin will heal. Well meaning surgeons can cause you significant harm. I would recommend seeking numerous opinions regarding your options. At your age, the potential for being harmed by one of these procedures is great. Yes you skin quality may not be so good right know but how will you feel if the situation is made worse by a complication of eyelid surgery or laser resufacing?
Yes your skin will sag again. It is your burden to educate yourself regarding the limits of cosmetic surgery. Unfortuantely, there are a lot of well meaning surgeons with solutions that may or may not be helpful. Don't rush in to anything. Consider having an advocate with your when you see these surgeons. You need someone with their head screwed on straight who understands your desire to further improve your appearance has to be balanced by the fact that many many surgeries never work out the way we hope they will. There is no magic wand out there. At your age carefully consider non-surgical options.

A blepharoplasty is not performed to tighten cheek skin. The primary goal for a blepharoplasty is to remove the fat bags on the lower lids and tighten a small amount of eyelid skin. Trying to tighten cheek skin from a blepharoplasty will only pull the eyelids down and give a hound dog appearance.