Lower Eyelid Surgery One Year Ago and I Have These Suture Marks (train Tracks) Scars Under my Eye? (photo)

Frankenstein or tract marks typically occur when sutures are too tight, left in too long, or get infected.  Some people just heal that way from genetics.  Your pre-op photos would be helpful, but it appears you have ectropion.  This typically occurs if too much skin is removed and/or if you develop a post operative hematoma.  This is a serious problem that could worsen in the wrong hands.  Seek a very very experienced plastic reconstructive surgeon, or very very experienced oculoplastic surgeon.  Keep your eye well lubricated until you get this fixed.  Your cornea is at risk.

Those suture marks are the result of having lower eyelid blepharoplasty done from the outside where an incision was made and skin was overlapped with stitches. When it healed, you developed these marks.

When someone has adequate skin, my approach in removing the stitch scars would be to excise the skin that has the marks or at least much of it as possible. Sometimes, we can improve this area with laser but because the skin is so thin, it’s a very tricky thing to consider given that you also have retraction and ectropion.

You’re dealing with an issue where there are multiple problems in terms of tissue availability. That means if your eyelid is rotated out, there can be a skin shortage so you need more skin. If it is retracted, then the middle layer of the skin needs some vertical height. So you might need more than just dealing with these suture marks, but this dependent on your perception of your cosmetic outcome as well as how aggressively you want to deal with the functional aspect. In ophthalmology, having eyelids that function well is critical for eye health. So it’s surprising to me that you are not concerned about symptoms related to tearing or dry eye.

Your concern about the mark is of course important but I think in the big picture, the position of your eyelid in relation to the health of your eye is a more significant and needs to be addressed. My suggestion is to consider a strategy to help address the eyelid retraction and ectropion. I would recommend visiting an oculofacial plastic surgeon with a lot of experience in this area particularly in the cosmetic area. I hope that was helpful, and thank you for your question.