Surgery That Goes Well with Cheekbone Surgery, Part 1: Lateral and Lower Canthoplasty

Hello. I’m Dr. Jo Hyun-woo of Ipcheok Plastic Surgery.

Today, over the course of several posts, I’d like to talk about procedures that are often performed together with cheekbone surgery.

The first is lateral canthoplasty and lower canthoplasty.

Many people want to have lateral and lower canthoplasty at the same time as cheekbone surgery.

If you look closely at people whose cheekbones are large and prominent overall, you will often see that the outer corners of their eyes are raised.

This is a photo of an actual patient who consented to the use of their portrait.

When the cheekbones are high, the eye sockets are often high as well, so simply reducing the cheekbones does not lower the outer corners of the eyes. That is why, when canthoplasty is performed together, the eyes can feel more open and refreshed.

Lateral canthoplasty and lower canthoplasty are performed in many hospitals under various names.

They are sometimes done as non-incisional procedures, and there are several different surgical methods.

Several different methods are also introduced in textbooks.

In general, I divide lateral canthoplasty into three types.

The first is simple lateral canthoplasty. It is a surgical method that increases the horizontal length of the eyes.

It is performed when the outer corners of the eyes are already drooping downward and do not need to be lowered.

In particular, for men, combining it with lower canthoplasty can make the eyes look somewhat awkward, so when men undergo surgery, it is often done without lower canthoplasty, and only lateral canthoplasty is performed.

The second is a method that widens the eye area vertically.

This surgical method is a good way to enlarge the area behind the eyes, but its drawback is that the outer corners of the eyes can become round.

Therefore, it is very important to choose the method that is appropriate for each patient’s case.

Lastly, this is the surgical method I mainly use: a method that enlarges the eyes by performing lower canthoplasty at the same time as lateral canthoplasty.

If only lateral canthoplasty is performed, the outer corners of the eyes may look too sharply cut, so by performing lower canthoplasty at the same time, the outer part of the eyes lowers and appears to enlarge naturally.

As you can see, the outer corners of the eyes are not rounded; they are lowered while maintaining the original angle of the eye corners.

There are incision methods such as Y-shaped incisions and straight-line incisions, but I prefer the straight-line incision.

That is because I believe it is most important to preserve the original shape of the eyes as naturally as possible.

The first question people ask during consultations for lateral and lower canthoplasty is, "Won’t it reattach?"

In fact, if you undergo surgery using a recent surgical method, it will not reattach. However, I have never personally seen a non-incisional canthoplasty, so it is difficult to say exactly what kind of outcome it will produce.

Today, as a brief first part of surgeries that are performed together with cheekbone surgery, we looked at lateral and lower canthoplasty.

Thank you.