After surgery to remove lower eye bags, will they return? I am 57 y/o.

Eyelid surgery that corrects the fullness in your lower lids is very long lasting.  Although some patients may elect to have this redone after 10-20 years there are also many patients who find that the benefits are so long lasting that they never require further surgery. Often times adding some fat to the cheeks (at the time of the lower lid surgery) enhances the overall effect.

Obviously, your skin will continue to age, but the fat bags shouldn't return. What I tell patients is that surgery will take about 10 years off your eyes and that will always be the case but as you get older, so will your eyes. They'll just continue to look 10 years younger than they would have without surgery. Hope this helps.My best,
Dr. Sheila Nazarian
@drsheilanazarian on Instagram

Cindy,Most cases of lower eyelid bags after age 40 are due to  fat pushing from around the eyes into the lower eyelid space.This can make you appear tired even when you feel fine inside. Fillers could help temporarily but the best option would be surgery to remove or reposition the prolapsing fat in this area. Fat removed will not regrow but residual fat can aging changes around the eyes can cause the lateral fat pad to push forward over a decade or more. But the majority of your issue would be help for a decade or longer with surgery correction at this time.I hope this was helpful.

Very few aesthetic surgical procedures should be thought of as a "one and done" type of treatment. That said the duration of benefit from lower eyelid blepharoplasty tends to be measured as many years to even decades. Every patient is different from a standpoint of their anatomy and how much surgery can be safely performed so I would discuss this question during your surgical consultation.

Surgery under the eye is permanent.  Often I find patients end up needed lasers and fillers though, so a formal consultation with your physician and/or a noninvasive specialist would be important for long term antiaging.  Best, Dr. Emer.

Although it is possible for some lower eyelid bags to return after surgery to remove them, I would say it is not likely in most people.  

This depends on your skin health and other factors, but most of the gains will be long-lasting and may never need to be repeated. The lower lid fat normally doesn't return, but the skin will continue to lose its elasticity and may, over time, become saggy again.  This can be treated with less invasive treatments such as chemical peels and laser, but after a long period may require repeat surgery.  

It is highly unlikely, but not unheard of, in most patients to see a return of bulging of lower eye lid fat bags in an artistically performed blepharoplasty.I would suggest you find a plastic surgeon certified by the American
Board of Plastic Surgery and ideally a member of the American Society for
Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS)  that you trust and are comfortable with. Discuss you concerns
with that plastic surgeon in person, including cost and arrangements for any
potential partial insurance coverage.

Robert Singer, MD FACS

La Jolla, California

It would be highly unlikely for eye bags to return.  Periorbital fat tends to recede with age which you see with older patients with hollowed eyes.  The trend now is to replace fat in the periorbital region to frame the eyes into a more youthful appearance.  Most surgeons including myself are very conservative with fat removal and instead transposing the fat to deficient areas to fill in the tear troughs in the lower eyelids