Blepharoplasty Through The Ages

Although most would think that cosmetic surgery is a fairly recent phenomenon, many cosmetic surgical procedures have a long history. One such procedure is cosmetic eyelid surgery, also known as blepharoplasty.

Blepharoplasty is defined as any operation targeting cosmetic or functional eyelid defects, including excesses of fat or muscle. The procedure can be traced back to the first century A.D., when the Roman, Aulus Cornelius Celus, practiced a predecessor to today's modern operation to relax the upper eyelids. In the tenth century, there are documented cases of Arabian doctors removing fat from over the upper eyelids.

The modern history of this popular cosmetic procedure dates back to the 1800s. A doctor named Von Graefe coined the termed blepharoplasty while he was looking for a way to describe the restoration techniques he used to fix eyelid deformities.

Cosmetic Eyelid Surgery

When performed cosmetically, blepharoplasty is usually in response to the fact that as a person ages, the muscles just under the skin lose their elasticity and begin to sag. This procedure is designed to eliminate this problem in upper and lower eyelids.

In the middle of the 1800s, Sichel added his expertise to the evolution of blepharoplasty with an accurate description of the fat that was at the center of the problem, but it wasn't until early in the next century that Conrad Miller had enough information on the subject to write a detailed book on blepharoplasty as a cosmetic procedure.

In 1907, Dr Conrad Miller's Cosmetic Surgery and the Correction of Facial Imperfections marked the first time that a complete book had been published on the subject. A subsequent edition contained detailed diagrams of incisions that were so intricate they are still in use in cosmetic surgery today.

Mainstays

It wasn't until the 1920s that these techniques started to be used for cosmetic purposes. By the 1940s, fat removal from around the eyes had become one of the mainstays of blepharoplasty. Other benchmarks in the evolution of this form of cosmetic surgery include a detailed study of these fat compartments in the eyelids in 1951.

In modern times, it is estimated that 100,000 thousand people have this cosmetic procedure every year and more of the patients are women than men. Cosmetic eyelid surgery is most effective when treating the following problems:

• Loose sagging skin under the eye or fatty deposits in healthy people

• Wrinkles in the lower eyelid

• Lower eyelids that droop to show the white sections just below the iris

• Eyes that have bags under them

Remember that individuals without any other serious eye conditions are the best candidates for this surgery and you should always consult with a physician about any other operations that you've had before having blepharoplasty.

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