Is Eyelid Fat Grafting the Only Way to Fix Sunken Upper Eyelids?

As time passes and eras keep changing, standards of beauty also change, but there is one standard of beauty that has not changed. It is a youthful appearance.

Just as with the body, when there is volume in various parts of the face, the face looks more three-dimensional and smaller, appears lively, and can create a youthful impression.

Among facial features, the eyes are especially said to be the windows to the mind, and they are one of the most important areas of the face. A lack of facial volume caused by sunken upper eyelids makes it difficult to create the youthful look that everyone prefers. It can also make you look tired, and if only one eyelid is sunken, the size and shape of the eyes can become different, causing problems such as an unbalanced face. So why do sunken upper eyelids happen?

 

The most common reason for sunken upper eyelids is aging, the enemy of a youthful appearance.

As people age, the elastic fibers and collagen fibers in the dermis of the skin become degenerated, reducing elasticity,

and facial volume is lost.

One of the changes that occurs as a result is sunken upper eyelids.

In addition, even among people who are relatively young, sunken upper eyelids can appear due to

excessive dieting for a slim body,

habitual behaviors such as rubbing the eyes, or genetic reasons.

 

In the case of sunken upper eyelids, they can not only make you look tired externally

and older than you really are,

but also make it harder to open the eyes functionally, causing eye fatigue, dry eye syndrome,

and even ptosis, so correction is a necessary part of treatment.

  In the past, many people may have planned eyelid fat grafting as a solution for sunken upper eyelids,

but today I would like to introduce eyelid volume-up, a more advanced technique than eyelid fat grafting.

Eyelid volume-up is also called orbital fat repositioning surgery for the eyelids.

As the name suggests, it is a method of giving volume to sunken eyelids by repositioning orbital fat.

You may be wondering what orbital fat is. Orbital fat refers to the fat around the eyes, and eyelid volume-up is performed by pulling down the fat hidden behind the eyebrows and repositioning it to the sunken eyelid area.

  Then you may be wondering why I am introducing eyelid volume-up instead of the eyelid fat grafting that was commonly performed before.

In the case of eyelid fat grafting,

fat was taken from areas with more fat, such as the abdomen, thighs, or buttocks, rather than the eyes,

then separated and injected into the eyelids.

However, because the fat is collected from another area,

the survival rate of the injected fat is low,

and more than 50% can deflate within 1 to 2 months.

In some cases, there was also a high possibility of adhesion, causing the surface to become uneven.

In addition, additional fat grafting may be needed,

and in some cases there was a burden because the ptosis symptoms caused by sunken upper eyelids could worsen,

and ptosis correction had to be done separately.

In contrast, eyelid volume-up

maximizes the use of the fat tissue around the orbit and repositions it,

so there is no need to worry about the survival rate of the fat.

It also has a relatively smooth surface without unevenness,

the recovery period is shorter than with eyelid fat grafting,

and improvement is possible with a single surgery without additional procedures. 

  In particular, in the case of sunken upper eyelids, it is important to perform surgery tailored to the case.

At our clinic, for a precise and natural eye line,

the procedure is performed differently depending on the degree of hollowness.

First, to simplify it, there are two main categories.

When the degree of hollowing is not severe,

volume in the eyelid can be restored and a bright, refreshed eye shape can be achieved with ptosis correction and surgery that advances and repositions the orbital fat.

When the degree of hollowing is severe,

ptosis correction, orbital fat repositioning, fat grafting, and fat injection are needed.

In addition, depending on the condition, it is important to add volume using microfat grafting and dermofat grafting.

  Although it may sound like a very simple principle when explained in words,

for the process of cleanly separating and repositioning the fat to go smoothly,

it is important to receive treatment from an experienced medical team.

At our clinic, plastic surgery specialist Director Oh Won-seok, who is dedicated to eye surgery,

provides stable surgical results through 1:1 consultations, customized surgery, and recovery care.

For detailed inquiries and consultation requests, please click the link below.