Should You Combine Upper Blepharoplasty With a Brow Lift?

Eyelid surgery, also called blepharoplasty, is one of the most popular cosmetic surgeries performed year in and year out. When any patient is considering considering upper eyelid surgery at my Chicago practice, almost invariably, the same question comes up: “Should I combine the procedure with a brow lift?”

In some cases, I will recommend combining the 2 procedures. In fact, I’ve developed a technique for brow lift procedures, usually combined with upper eyelid surgery, that results in a quicker recovery, an extremely low complication rate, and results that appear very natural.

So, how to know? There are a number of specific factors to consider when consulting with patients who believe they need upper eyelid surgery. For example, many patients believe brow lifts dramatically raise the brow. That’s not the case. Other issues that should be considered when deciding whether to have eyelid surgery, a brow lift, or to combine the procedures:

• Start with your goals. If your main concern is the way the area around your eyes makes you look, then you may well get the desired result with blepharoplasty alone. But patients with lateral hooding of the upper eyelids typically need a brow lift, combined with upper blepharoplasty.
• If the main concern is impaired vision, upper blepharoplasty is best — and you may even be able to get it covered by your insurance. When upper eyelid surgery will improve peripheral vision, it is often at least partially covered by insurance policies.
• If a patient’s concerns aren’t limited to the eyes (even including crow’s feet), there may be other procedures to address those areas. Crow’s feet, for example, can be resolved via BOTOX® Cosmetic injections.

For patients who also need lower eyelid surgery, I prefer combining that procedure with fat grafting to improve the appearance of the area just below they eyes. Eye “bags” or hollows can be minimized, or even erased, with strategic injections of fat. I use fat routinely, instead of synthetic dermal fillers, to address these common concerns.