Plastic Surgery - Rhinoplasty - Face Lift - Chemical Peels - Browplasty - Blepharoplasty - Plastic Surgeon - Facial Beauty

The cause:

As a person ages the eyebrows descend.  This happens most near the outer third of the eyebrow.  The reason for this is that the muscles of the forehead exert most of their action on the inner two thirds of the eyebrow leaving the muscles that pull the eyebrow down to have no opposition near the outer portion of the brow.  When a person undergoes aging in the area, their lateral brows become descended which imparts a tired look to their face.  In addition to these changes to the outer eyebrow, all aspects of the face are held together by ligaments which keep the face looking young.  Secondarily due to the effects of gravity and loss of muscle tone, the whole eyebrow can descend when the ligaments which hold the eyebrow against the brow bone weaken and loosen.  This explains the descent of the eyebrow as a whole.  These same loosening effects also can be found in the eyelid.  The eyelid is held in place by ligaments that are attached to the brow bone and the muscles that open the eyelid.  When they are weakened and loosened the eyelid crease can be less distinct, the fat held back by the ligaments can pouch out and the result is further external effects that can impart a tired look.  These same ligaments can also lead to the descent of the eyelid margin so that the eyes become smaller.  From a functional standpoint, the loose eyebrows, eyelid skin and eyelid margins can impede a persons vision giving certain people a functional reason to search for a treatment.

The Treatment:

The answer to improving a persons appearance is through understanding the etiology and knowing what the goals are.  Importantly, an aesthetic facial plastic surgeon needs to understand what makes a person beautiful.  An understanding of facial aesthetics and the theories which try to explain it are vital to this process.  The key to enhancing the beauty of the eye region involves elevating the eyebrow as well as removing excess skin from the eyelid.  If you address the eyelid without concern for the eyebrow, the end result could be less than appealing.  Taking only skin from the eyelid can bring the eyebrow down even more.  The result could be a more tired look.  Addressing the eyebrow first, then moving on to the eyelid allows the surgeon to fine tune the eye region without further descending the position of the eyebrow.  Another element that is vital to the beauty of the eye is the eyelid crease.  Having a distinct eyelid crease gives the illusion of a larger eye by extending the border of the eyelid margin.  The question of how high the margin should be has not been thoroughly addressed.  Based on my theory of facial aesthetics, the distance from the eyelid margin to the lower edge of the eyebrow is ideally one iris width.  This distance should increase as one approaches the lateral portion of the eyebrow to one and a half an iris width.  The eyelid crease is ideal at a half iris width.  Creating the eyelid crease to this ideal markedly beautifies the eye.  Another important element is the angle of the brows and eyes itself.  In the youthful and beautiful eye, the angle of the eyebrow should be 18 degrees and the eye itself from the inner corner to the outer corner should be 9 degrees.  All of these changes can be done through surgery.