Facial plastic surgery can have more than just an effect on how you feel about yourself, it can affect the way others perceive you as well. Aging can do more than produce lines, wrinkles, and sagging skin. It can affect our overall resting expressions as well. These expressions are important, especially at times when others are reading your facial cues. Part of the negative impact of aging is that people can perceive you differently than you actually feel. Facial surgery, particularly eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty), can help you combat this problem and restore your appearance to a more youthful and amiable expression. But how does this work?

First Impressions

Naturally, the people who know you well won’t perceive you any differently as you get older. Your personality is known to them and your resting expressions won’t affect how they feel about you. But for people you are just meeting, your resting expression can encourage negative first impressions. For example, if sagging skin is making you look sad, angry, or impatient, these resting expressions can change people’s initial idea of you. These impressions can change over time, but there are many cases in which you won’t get a chance to show that your personality does not reflect your expression.

Eyelid Surgery and Expression

Aging in the eye area can prompt a number of changes in expression. Undereye “bags” can cause you to look tired or disinterested all the time, while hooding above the eyes can create an angry or irritated expression. Blepharoplasty is an eyelid surgery that can tighten the skin in the eye area and make other changes to brighten up and improve overall expression and appearance. You don’t need to look at many before and after photos to see the profoundly positive impact blepharoplasty can have on facial expression.

How Eyelid Surgery Works

Blepharoplasty can be performed on the upper lids, the lower lids, or both. In the lower lid, thinning skin and weakened muscles often allow fat to sag below the eye, causing undereye bags and dark circles. Using a discreet incision, the surgeon will reposition and/or remove fat from the area for a smooth and youthful appearance. For the upper lids, the process is usually focused on the sagging skin that can “hood” the eyes and even result in vision obstruction in severe cases. The goal of surgery is a beautiful, natural-looking appearance that restores a more representative facial expression and helps improve your overall confidence.

Remembering Your Reasons

If you’re thinking about blepharoplasty to soften your facial expression and restore youth to your eyes, it’s important to keep things in perspective and think about your motivations for pursuing surgery. You should only ever consider plastic surgery to please yourself, not because of what anyone else thinks. You want to feel secure and happy in your decision, and it’s easy to have regrets if you rush into blepharoplasty.

Maintaining Reasonable Expectations

Plastic surgery can make great improvement in signs of aging, but it is important to maintain reasonable expectations about your eventual results. It is not fair to you to expect perfection, and patients who are realistic about their final results are generally happier with the outcome of surgery than those who expect too much. Digital imaging can give you a preview of the results, but it is impossible to know exactly how you will look prior to the surgery and recovery processes.

Finding the Right Doctor

Want to learn more about blepharoplasty and discuss your needs for surgery? It’s time to start looking for a board certified facial plastic surgeon to help you reach your goals. It is important to find the surgeon who is right for you, someone who is a qualified and experienced professional, who makes you feel at ease, and has a proven track record of stellar results.

Dr. Rami K. Batniji is an acclaimed plastic surgeon who focuses solely on facial procedures, and specializes in anti-aging techniques. Come to Batniji Facial Plastic Surgery for a consultation to discuss your needs for blepharoplasty in Newport Beach (949-650-8882) or Beverly Hills (310-467-2180), CA, and see if Dr. Batniji can help you reach your anti-aging goals.