Excision and Redraping Skin and Orbicularis Oculi Muscle Separately during Transcutaneous Lower Eyelid Blepharoplasty

The purpose of this study was to report a transcutaneous lower eyelid blepharoplasty procedure where different amounts of skin and orbicularis oculi muscle are excised and where skin and muscle are redraped (tightened) separately.

A retrospective non-consecutive small case-series of patients undergoing lower eyelid blepharoplasty is described. In a nutshell, during this procedure a skin flap was fashioned (caudal to the sub-ciliary pre-tarsal excess of skin to be excised), some pre-septal orbicularis oculi muscle fibers were excised (in regard of the skin flap), muscle and then skin were redraped, separately. In addition to these surgical steps conducted on each patient, when required, orbital fat prolapse was reduced, orbital retaining ligament was detached, and/or a canthopexie/plasty was performed. Assessment of surgical outcome was made by providing, for comparison, pictures taken before and after the procedure.

No major intra- or postoperative complications were recorded and overall postoperative outcome was judged satisfactory by both surgeons and patients.

In contrast to a conventional skin-muscle lower blepharoplasty approach where, in a block, pre-tarsal skin and muscle are excised and then pre-septal skin and muscle are redraped, the technique described in the present paper allows us to excise different amounts of skin and orbicularis muscle and to redrape them separately. Among several potential advantages, this approach preserves pre-tarsal orbicularis muscle function, allows us to apply more tension on the redraped muscle and less on the redraped skin, and avoids redraping of a relatively thick per-septal orbicularis oculi muscle over the tarsus (like it is in the case of a conventional skin-muscle technique).