Can Transconjunctival Blepharoplasty Also Lift, Remove or Tighten Cheek Muscle?

Access to the midface through a transconjunctival incision alone is not really possible.  You can, however, continue the incision through the canthus (where the lower eyelid joins into the bone on the outside), releasing the canthal tendon to get better visualization.  From here you can perform a SOOF (suborbicularis occuli fat) lift or connect to a temple incision and perform a true mid-face lift (using Endotines or sutures).  Also, fat repositioning, as opposed to fat excision, is very difficult through the transconjunctival incision alone. 

It is possible depending on the problem and the goal.  There are a variety of techniques available for a variety of problems. A personal consultation would go over options for you.

 Transconjunctival blepharoplasty for eyelid bags not cheeklift. You cannot really get a good cheeklift from that limited incision. As long as she is happy that is what counts!

While there is a minor lift that can be performed with a transconjunctival approach, it involves lifting a gristle layer of the cheek, not the true muscle layer.  Lifting the cheek up vertically tends to make the eyes look smaller and we do not recommend this procedure.  We perform all of our lower lid blepharoplasty through a transconjunctival approach and when cheek lifts are needed we perform cheek implants for a flattened low volume cheek or a lower face/neck lift for sagging jowls.

Thank you for your question.  While it is possible to reach the muscle through this approach it is highly unlikely that the cheek muscles were lifted.   This approach is quite restrictive and it is difficult to obtain access to  adequately address the cheek muscles.  It is,however,  very common to lift the orbicularis muscle (the muscle surrounding the eye) in the lower eyelid with this approach.  I would suspect that this was the muscle the surgeon was referring to.