Historical Vignettes of Epicanthoplasty

The aim of this study is to summarize historical vignettes in regards to epicanthoplasty, systematically.In a PubMed search and a Scopus search, the search terms (epicanthal) AND (fold)and (epicanthoplasty) were used, which resulted in 389 titles found. Among the 480 titles, 74 titles, which were duplicated between PubMed and Scopus were excluded. Excluding 352 titles from the remaining 406 titles, 54 abstracts discussing at least 1 surgical method correcting epicanthal folds were reviewed. By excluding further 6 abstracts, 48 full articles, were reviewed. Finally, 6 mined articles were added, in which 4 studies were excluded resulting in 46 articles being analyzed.Forty-three articles studied eliminating epicanthal folds (93.5%) and 3 discussed reconstructing removed epicanthal folds (6.5%). The methods were categorized into Z-plasty, advancement, skin redraping, excision, and others. Among the 48 methods analyzed, the Z-plasty (21, 43.8%) was written most frequently followed by advancement (14, 29.2%), and excision (7, 14.6%). Redraping was relatively rare (4, 8.3%). The Z-plasty is employed frequently and is increasingly used. Excision has decreased in use and no more articles have been written recently. Advancement has continuously increased but has stabilized from 2010. Redraping has increased recently apparently after Oh's 2007 article was published.Excessive performance of epicanthoplasty causes unwanted results, including overcorrection. Subsequently, reconstruction of the over-corrected cases was needed and restoration methods are now being published. It is expected that new modifications of Z-epicanthoplasty or skin redraping technique will appear. Reconstruction methods will also be developed.