Long-Term Effects of Extended Upper Blepharoplasty Combined With Subbrow Skin Removal for Correction of Lateral Hooding in Asian Women

Abstract

Upper eyelid aging with lateral hooding is common among Asian women older than 40 years. Since Asians tend to develop more visible scars than White people, we used an extended upper blepharoplasty technique to correct lateral hooding and conceal the scar, combined with the removal of the thick subbrow skin for women over 60 years of age, to achieve a stable, improved outcome. An extended cutaneous scalpel-shaped excision was designed and hid the extended part of the excision in the patient’s upward crow’s feet to address the redundant skin of lateral hooding. For patients older than 60 years, we used a crescent-shaped excision and simultaneously removed the thick skin under the eyebrow to reduce the likelihood of long-term postoperative pseudoexcess. A retrospective study was conducted on 40 Asian women who underwent upper eyelid rejuvenation surgery with the above methods from July 2020 to March 2021 (follow-up, 12–15 mo). Extended blepharoplasty notably corrected the lateral hooding and achieved a natural double eyelid. The postoperative scar was inconspicuous. For patients older than 60 years, the long-term rejuvenation outcome was stable when associated with subbrow skin removal. However, two patients older than 60 years in whom the subbrow skin was not removed developed pseudoexcess of the upper eyelid 1 year postoperatively. Extended blepharoplasty is a simple and effective technique for improving periorbital aging in Asian women, and the postoperative scarring was inconspicuous. For patients older than 60 years, we recommend removal of the thick subbrow skin to avoid long-term postoperative pseudoexcess.