Will the Changed Weight of Eyelids After Blepharoplasty Affect Vision?

Eyelid surgery should not directly change your vision, but I have personally seen patients whose vision has changed after blepharoplasty. I have no good explanation why this would be, other than the fact that the eyelid swelling can cause some swelling of the eyeball and even the cornea. In some patients, I have to assume that this swelling can permanently change their eyeball or cornea and effect their vision. Fortunately this is very uncommon and can be corrected with a new eyeglass or contact prescription.

Andrew C. Campbell, M.D.

Board Certified Facial Plastic Surgeon

JPM

The answer is typically no the vision does not change with eyelid surgery.  However, this is occasionally seen.  However, it may not be caused by your eyelid surgery but rather you might have something unrelated going on that actually is accounting for the change in the vision.  One example is a condition called corneal ectasia where there is a slight bulge in the cornea.  As this slowly progresses, there can be fairly dramatic changes in the vision.  Early on this might be missed.  However, sophisticated corneal mapping can identify problems like this.  Of course other issues can cause a progressive change in vision.  I would recommend that you have your eyes assessed by a board certified ophthalmologist to determine what is causing your vision to change.

It is very unusual to experience permanent change in vision from eyelid surgery.  Usually any change is temporary and usually due to swelling from the surgery itself.  This should resolve within two to three weeks.  Most patients do report seeing better and everything looking brighter after upper eyelid surgery.  If you experience a significant change in your vision, I recommend consulting an ophthalmologist and getting your vision checked for a new prescription to your glasses or contact lenses.

After blepharoplasty you can get some changes in your vision. It shouldn’t be extreme. Some of the changes may not be due to a change in the prescription, but due to dry eye and should get better. And the weight of the eyelid may effect the prescription to some degree.

You may experience some temporary blurring of your vision or excess watering of your eyes after eyelid surgery in the first few weeks.  Typicallly, upper eyelid surgery(blepharoplasty) will not change your vision directly after the initial healing phase.  If anything, your upper peripheral vision may be better after surgery.  Blindness has been reported after eyelid surgery, but this is extraordinarily rare.  Inserting your contacts should be avoided for the first two weeks after eyelid surgery, but it should become easier after surgery.

Michael Vincent, MD, FACS