Nohyeon eye correction: Can we correct only one side of “uneven eyes”?

Hello. This is Re:本 Plastic Surgery, located at Exit 1 of Sinsa Station.

| I have been struggling a lot with having uneven eyes since middle and high school. Not only do I look bad, but I also feel very uncomfortable interacting with people because of it. One eye is normal, but on the other side the eyelid comes down close to the pupil, so I feel tired when I open my eyes. As I have tried to open the eye that does not open well, I developed a habit of raising one eyebrow, and my expression has changed a lot. I want to have surgery on only one eye, but if I do, can it become a normal eye? |

This is a story sent in by a patient through our online inquiry at Re:本 Plastic Surgery.

There can be several reasons for uneven eyes, but the most representative one is that the strength of the muscle that opens the eyes has weakened for some reason, causing the eyelid not to open normally.

If someone is born with weak muscle strength from birth, there is a high chance they have had uneven eyes since childhood. If the eyelid levator muscle is damaged later due to trauma or another surgery such as double-eyelid surgery, there is a high chance uneven eyes developed in the teenage years or adulthood.

When you have uneven eyes, you not only feel discomfort in terms of eye function, but also face major difficulties in building relationships with others.

Some people even fail to get jobs regardless of their abilities because they are perceived as having a bad impression, and in severe cases during the teenage years, there are often cases of bullying.

Whether surgery is needed for uneven eyes depends on the degree of the condition and the discomfort the patient feels, but if one eyelid droops severely and this causes social inconvenience, surgery is recommended.

However, there are a few things you should know when having surgery for uneven eyes.

Surgery for uneven eyes: the standard procedure is eye correction

Eye correction is a surgery that strengthens the eyelid levator muscle, which opens the eyes, when the eyelid droops downward because the muscle has weakened, allowing the eyes to open normally.

So if the cause of uneven eyes is weakness of the eyelid levator muscle, this should also be corrected with eye correction.

The method of eye correction varies slightly depending on how much the eyelid levator muscle has weakened, but basically, a loosened eyelid levator muscle is partially removed and shortened, then tightened.

It is similar to the principle of cutting a stretched rubber band once and tying it again so that it becomes tighter than before.

In other words, it pulls the eyelid a little more when closing and opening the eyes so that it lifts upward.

Some patients ask, “Can’t I just have surgery on the side where the eye has become smaller?”

There are also many cases where people come to consult thinking that the normal eye does not need to be touched at all.

But the muscles of the eyelids have a very complex structure.

From here, I will explain why.

Uneven eyes: is surgery on only one side possible?

Sometimes it is possible, and sometimes it is not.

In mild cases of uneven eyes, surgery may be performed on only one eye, but if the eyelid droop is severe enough to cover the pupil, operating on only one side may cause the previously normal eye to droop as well, so both eyes need to be operated on.

This may not make much sense, right?

Let me explain the principle of how the eyes open.

To open the eyes, signals sent from the brain stem must be transmitted to the levator and Müller’s muscles in the upper eyelid, causing the eyelid levator muscle to contract.

However, if correction is performed on only one eye, there is sometimes a risk that the opposite eye will droop again into a sleepy-looking eye.

This phenomenon is known as “Hering’s law.”

When the brain stem sends signals to both eyes, it sends a stronger signal to the eye that is less open. If that part is corrected, the signal applied to the opposite side becomes relatively weaker, causing the eye to look sleepy.

That is why there are quite a few cases where one eye was operated on without properly identifying this in advance, and after surgery the opposite eye became uneven, leading to revision surgery.

Correcting uneven eyes is that difficult, so you should meet a doctor with sufficient experience, right?

Ptosis with both eyes drooping symmetrically and uneven eyes are different in terms of surgical difficulty.

In the end, the muscle that opens the eyes is affected by commands from the brain, so if this part is not properly understood, symmetrical eyes cannot be created, which only leads to greater stress.

If you are currently struggling with uneven eyes, please be aware in advance that if you have surgery on only one eye, there may be such side effects, and proceed with your consultation accordingly.

That is all for today’s post.

I hope this was helpful, and I will end here. Thank you. ^^