With age, under-eye fat can bulge and create grooves and shadows. Lower blepharoplasty smooths the under-eye area by adjusting not only fat removal and repositioning but also stretched skin, muscle and supporting structures.
1. What is lower blepharoplasty?
It corrects bulging under-eye fat, deep tear troughs, sagging skin and fine lines, and loosened muscle and supporting structures together.
2. How is it performed?
An incision is made along the line below the lashes to expose the fat, which is removed or repositioned; the stretched skin and muscle are then adjusted and closed.
3. Should under-eye fat be removed or repositioned?
Removing it is not automatically the right answer. Taking too much can leave the under-eye area looking hollow, so repositioning the protruding fat into the hollowed area is also considered.
4. Will lower blepharoplasty remove the "aegyo-sal"?
Techniques that preserve the orbicularis muscle as much as possible are now widely used, which helps keep the aegyo-sal and natural expressions.
5. How does lower blepharoplasty differ from under-eye fat repositioning?
Fat repositioning through the conjunctiva leaves no skin scar but cannot directly correct sagging skin and muscle. Lower blepharoplasty through a skin incision corrects fat along with skin, muscle and supporting structures.
6–7. Who it suits, and why it is combined with upper blepharoplasty
Lower blepharoplasty may suit you better if the skin has stretched, there are many fine lines and the muscle has descended. Improving the under-eye area can make upper-eyelid sagging comparatively more noticeable, so the two are sometimes considered together.
8–9. Recovery time and bleeding precautions
Recovery does not double, but the area of early swelling can be wider. Bending your head down for long periods or lifting heavy objects can raise the risk of bleeding and should be avoided.
10. Symptoms that warrant contacting your clinic right away
Tell your clinic immediately if one eye suddenly swells, your vision blurs, you have difficulty closing the eye, or the lower eyelid turns outward.
The goal of lower blepharoplasty is not to remove all the fat but to diagnose precisely where the problem starts — fat, skin, muscle or eyelid support — and correct only as much as needed, naturally.