The Treatment of Post-blepharoplasty Lower Eyelid Retraction

Numerous solutions for post-blepharoplasty lower eyelid retraction are reviewed. Patients require permanent recruitment of skin and soft tissue to lengthen the lower eyelid and control of the lower eyelid shape. The authors use a hand-carved expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) implant held with microscrews to provide volume and felting material at the orbital rim and to permanently fix vertically lifted cheek soft tissue into the lower eyelid. The eyelid margin is also controlled with a hard palate graft inset into the conjunctival surface below the tarsus. This eyelid reconstruction avoids tension on the lateral canthoplasty, a point of failure in other solutions.