Can lower eyelid fat repositioning damage the tear trough area?

Fat repositioning is a common technique when performing lower lid blepharoplasty. This involves moving the fat from the lid into the tear trough and cheek to add volume to the midface. This does not damage the tear trough area. This technique does involve the release of ligaments around the tear trough (orbital retaining ligament/arcus marginalis) to allow the fat to sit in the correct position. However, this does not affect the cheek fat pads. The cheek fat pads will continue to descend with time and gravity. Best to see an eyelid expert in your area.

For unique cases where a variety of modalities could be used to treat the condition, I would suggest an in-person or virtual consultation to develop a custom and effective treatment plan. It is difficult to precisely define the best option without collecting the same information. I suggest reaching out to an expert for a consultation with surgical and non-surgical methods to get a comprehensive option. Best, Dr. Emer.

Hi Fabulous. I'm not sure what you mean by breaking the tear trough area. The idea of doing repositioning is that you disrupt the tear trough ligaments and then push fat into the hollowing at the tear trough so that overall you have a smoother contour from lid to cheek. This should not cause any droopiness of the cheeks (if anything, it should add volume to the cheeks). Good luck!