Eyelids Asian blepharoplasty

Asian blepharoplasty, commonly termed double-eyelid surgery, refers to surgery designed to place a pretarsal crease in Asian eyes that are absent a fold. Patients typically desire to look more bright-eyed and want to make applying eyeliner easier. Patients also seek to remove the puffy and tired look associated with a fatty upper lid. In current American society, Asian patients almost never seek to westernize their appearance, and surgeons should be wary of modifying a patient's ethnic appearance, even in the rare case when it is requested.

Problem
Asian patients with a puffy upper lid and an absent crease may dislike such an appearance. The patient may report difficulty applying eyeliner because of the overhanging fat and may wish to have a crease similar in appearance to Asian friends who were born with such a crease. Patients generally do not want to change their ethnic appearance.

Frequency
Approximately 50% of people of Pacific Asian descent (eg, Korean, Japanese, Chinese) have a pretarsal crease.

Etiology
Traditional theory states that the pretarsal fold represents the insertion of the levator aponeurosis expansion into the dermis. Presumably, Asians have a lower insertion point than white persons, leading to smaller or absent folds. An alternative theory is that the fold corresponds to the level of the septoaponeurotic sling. Lower height of the sling in Asians allows the fat to sit lower in the eyelid, leading to a smaller fold.

Pathophysiology
Traditional approaches to placing a pretarsal crease involve suturing the dermis to the levator expansion at the appropriate height. Alternative approaches attempt to create a septoaponeurotic sling at the desired lid height.

Clinical
Most commonly, the patient for this procedure is female and presents in mid adolescence with her mother or is female and is in her early 20s. Male patients, seen occasionally, tend to be slightly older, aged in the late 20s to early 30s. Female patients may report difficulty applying eyeliner. Not infrequently, females may apply cellophane tape to create a fold as part of the daily makeup ritual; the patient desires surgery to spare herself this inconvenience.

Occasionally, an older patient presents to report problems related to the aging upper eyelid and/or periorbital area. The patient may have had prior pretarsal crease placement.

Surgeons should consider the maturity of patients when they request such surgery. Occasionally, a mother brings a young teenaged daughter in for surgery. Patients should be mature enough to participate in oral or intravenous sedation for surgery and should understand and accept the risk of complications.

In Asians with a fold, the height of the normal lid fold lies 8-10 mm from the lash line with the skin gently stretched. Nasally, it begins close to the lash line and then reaches a maximum height at mid pupil. It stays at this height, extending to the orbital rim laterally. In contrast, folds in non-Asians tend to be larger and have less orbitopalpebral fat.

The primary difference between the non-Asian versus Asian eyelids is that the prelevator fat lies in a more inferior level; ie, the septo-aponeurotic sling hangs lower. In non-Asians, the supratarsal fold marks the inferior limit of the prelevator fat. This inferior limit is also the point at which the levator aponeurosis attaches to the dermis, creating an upper lid crease. In the Asian eyelid, this dermal attachment rests lower, resulting in a smaller crease, or it does not attach to the skin at all, resulting in an absent fold.

The surgical strategy for creating an Asian eyelid fold is either to recreate the dermal attachment of the levator aponeurosis or to prevent the fat from descending below the desired eyelid fold height. The nonincision suture method of eyelid surgery creates the fold by recreating this dermal attachment using nonabsorbable sutures. The incisional method of Asian eyelid surgery recreates the fold by removing the inferior portion of the prelevator fat and sealing off this area. A hybrid version, the semi-open method, combines aspects of both techniques by using buried nylon sutures to recreate the fold but also removing a portion of the prelevator fat through a small incision. The incisional method and semi-open method are described in Surgical therapy. In any case, the surgeon should not remove too much fat from the Asian eye because this results in a westernized appearance, which should be avoided.

The nasal area of the fold bears a variable relationship to the medial epicanthus. A fold may begin on the undersurface of the epicanthal fold or on the visible outer surface. These are referred to as an "inside" fold or an "outside" fold, respectively. When the fold is set relatively high, the crease usually folds on the outside.

The medial epicanthal fold can be variable in configuration. The Flowers classification is based on the how much of the caruncle is visible. In type I, the caruncle is visible and resembles a white person's anatomy. In type II, the caruncle is partially obstructed, while in type III, the fold is prominent and has an inversus component. Type IV resembles type I, except that the medial epicanthal fold is thick. A medial epicanthoplasty is recommended for patients with type III or IV and is optional for patients with type II.

Consider the maturity level of the patient, especially if he or she is young. At age 15-16 years, many teenagers do not have adequate coping mechanisms for potential complications. For these patients, consider the simplest and least morbid procedure.

Surgical Therapy
The 2 general categories of repair include the open method and the suture method. The suture method is preferable for patients with thin skin or Asian eyelids so thin that they fold spontaneously on an intermittent basis. If the patient has some excess fat, this fat can be removed through a small stab incision. The fat in the central portion of the eyelid should be preserved, but the portion near the lateral orbital rim can be removed to yield better definition. The open technique is preferred for patients with thicker skin, thick pretarsal orbicularis muscle, or excess skin, or for those for which permanence is a premium. Both techniques are described in Intraoperative details.

Preoperative Details
Consider upper eyelid position in conjunction with the forehead. The visible amount of pretarsal skin on straightforward gaze depends on the degree of brow ptosis and upper lid skin redundancy. Even young patients may have a congenitally low brow position, as evidenced by frontalis strain. Set the lid height higher in these patients.

For a natural looking fold, the ideal amount of pretarsal show with the eyes open and at straight gaze is 2-3 mm. The rest of the pretarsal skin should be hidden behind the overhanging upper lid skin. This height is usually obtained by creating an incision at 7-10 mm above the lash line at the mid pupil with the skin slightly stretched (see Image 1). This measurement corresponds to the tarsal height. Although this is a general guideline, a patient with brow ptosis should have the incision set slightly higher because the brow drops in the postoperative period, decreasing the amount of pretarsal show. On the other hand, patients who are slightly exophthalmic should have the crease set slightly lower, closer to 6 or 7 mm.

Most patients have some degree of brow asymmetry, with 80% of patients having a right brow lower than the left. This asymmetry should be compensated for by setting the crease slightly higher or removing slightly more skin from the lower eyebrow. Failure to compensate for the asymmetric brow is one of the frequent causes for crease asymmetry.

Although much discussion has been made about the different shapes of the crease fold, a natural crease will present itself when a key point has been placed just medial to the pupil, roughly corresponding to the medial edge of the tarsal plate. As the patient opens his or her eyelid, a fold will present itself medial and lateral to this key point. The crease can then be carefully marked out.

The medial epicanthal area should be addressed in discussion with the patient. If the patient has no preference, the author generally prefers to avoid a medial epicanthoplasty unless the patient is of the Flowers type III or IV. As for placing the fold on the inside or outside of the epicanthus, this author prefers a very small outside fold. This can be hard to control, but in general, the larger the fold at mid pupil, the more likely it is to fold on the outside. A very small fold usually folds on the inside. The patient often makes his or her preference clear on this matter, which of course influences the size of the fold the surgeon needs to create in order to accomplish the desired result.