If You’re Having Trouble Opening Your Eyes After Ptosis Correction, There’s Something You Should Check First

Hello, I’m Ahn Byung-jun, CEO of Ahn Byung Jun Plastic Surgery.

Many people come in with concerns such as, “I often hear that my eyes look sleepy,” or “When I take photos, one eye looks smaller than the other.”

In such cases, ptosis or sagging skin may be suspected.

That is why one of the surgeries I approach carefully in the clinic is ptosis correction.

Because the effect can be so clear, determining whether someone is an appropriate candidate is more important than anything else.

There are specific eyes that need ptosis correction

The eyes have both muscles that open the eyes and muscles that close them.

The muscles involved in opening the eyes include the levator muscle and the Müller muscle.

If these muscles are congenitally weak, or if their strength decreases due to acquired causes, the eyes do not open fully.

This condition is called ptosis, and the way to improve it by reinforcing muscle strength is ptosis correction.

When the strength to open the eyes is weak, a compensatory action naturally occurs in which the forehead or eyebrow muscles are used to open the eyes.

Because of this, the eyebrows are often raised upward or deep forehead lines are formed.

For these patients, ptosis correction is needed to restore the strength of the muscle itself.

You need to understand the relationship between the amount of strength reinforcement and the degree of correction

There is something I explain when discussing ptosis correction.

If the levator muscle and Müller muscle are reinforced by 4 mm, the eye will open about 1 mm more.

So if you want the eye to open 2 mm more, 8 mm of strength reinforcement would be needed.

However, the reason surgery is difficult is that this calculation alone makes it hard to predict the outcome.

The human eyes are like a seesaw, so when one eye is corrected, the other eye may appear relatively less open.

For that reason, there are cases in which the opposite side also needs to be corrected to achieve balance, and during this process, the tissue may swell and fine adjustments may be needed during surgery.

This is also why there are not many places that handle ptosis correction.

Using the eyebrows does not always mean ptosis

During consultations, there are people who think they have ptosis just because their eyebrows rise a little, or who come in after being told that.

However, in East Asians, the eyelid skin itself often sags, so there is a tendency to compensate with the eyebrows.

In such cases, simply correcting the sagging skin often makes the eyes much easier to open.

This is because the issue is not weak muscle strength itself, but rather difficulty opening the eyes due to the weight of the skin.

It is important to distinguish whether ptosis correction is needed or whether sagging skin correction should come first.

If this distinction is not made properly, unnecessary ptosis correction may be performed, which can also lead to revision surgery.

This is also why many revision surgery consultations involve dissatisfaction after ptosis correction.

The condition of each eye must be checked individually

It is also common for the strength of the two eyes to differ.

This is when the degree of iris exposure differs between the left and right sides, making the eyes appear asymmetrical.

Ptosis correction is a procedure that balances both sides while looking at them simultaneously, so detailed judgment is required during surgery.

Because ptosis correction is a surgery in which the results are clearly visible, careful judgment is especially important.

You should closely examine whether the actual strength to open the eyes is weak, whether sagging skin is the cause, and how the left and right sides are balanced before deciding on the direction of treatment, so that a natural and long-lasting result can be achieved.

If you feel that your eyes do not open well, I recommend checking your eyes with a plastic surgery specialist who has extensive experience and know-how.

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