Is muscle around eyes excised during blepharoplasty?

I spare the eye muscles rather than excise them during blepharoplasty, but this depends on patient anatomy and need. Sometimes the muscles have grown so lax that they drag the eyelid downward. Minimal excision and/or tightening may help. It's a minimally invasive surgery and recovery time tends to be quick, with return to normal activities within a few days. I hope this helps.

In most cases, it is possible to achieve excellent aesthetic results without removing lower eyelid surgery.  Re-suspending the orbicularis muscle is a preferred technique, and usually results in a much better post operative result because muscle function is preserved.  This is also true in upper eyelid surgery, but sometimes a small strip of muscle can be removed to enhance the upper eyelid crease.  This can however result in some difficulty in closing  the upper eyelid.

This is a controversial topic.  The consensus among surgeons who currently perform large numbers of eyelid surgeries is that conservative excision or no excision at all is the preferred practice.  Over-excision can lead to a hollowed out eye and in extreme cases lead to difficulty with eyelid closure.  My advice is to seek the expertise of an experienced eyelid surgeon!Best of luck!

It is best NOT to remove any eyelid muscle during blepharoplasty.  Removing muscle adds risk to the procedure in terms of eyelid closure, etc. 

Thank you for your question. During lower eyelid surgery there are techniques that divide the orbicularis muscle along its lateral aspect to gain access to the orbital septum and fat pads. This muscle division is then repaired during the closure. Another lower eyelid surgery technique removes the fat without dividing the muscle but instead the muscle fibers are separated to access the fat that may not be completely accessible through transconjunctival approach. In the upper eyelid a narrow strip 1-2 mm of orbicularis muscle is removed in some techniques to help define the upper eyelid sulcus and to access the fat pads. Other techniques simply separate the muscle without removing any in order to access the fat pads. In general the thin muscle resection of the upper eyelid does not affect movement. In the lower lid there can be a loss of tone of the muscle and although this typically recovers it can contribute to lateral scleral show, lid laxity and changing the shape of the eye/aperture. Discuss your concerns with your surgeon in regards to the effect the surgery may have on your muscle exercises.