I have a lot of patients that come in to have “double eyelids”. Many patients ask me what the difference is between a regular eyelift and an null that entails creating the double eyelid. There are significant differences and going to someone that specializes in these type of procedures can mean the world of difference. Creating the double eyelid requires a more thorough knowledge of the eyelid anatomy. You have to understand all of the layers of the eyelid in order to find the muscle that elevates the eyelid called the levator aponeurosis (colored purple) in the picture. This is the muscle that helps pull up the eyelid margin and create a tight layer of skin that folds under the more superior areas of skin. The superior areas of the skin then hang over to be the crease part of the eyelid. Prior to doing the procedure, it is important to relay to your doctor some of the important things you would like accomlished during the procedure. Questions regarding whether you would like an inside or outside fold, how high you would like the crease, whether you would like the crease to follow the eyelid margin or flare upward as the crease approaches outside the eye or that lateral parts of the eyelid near the lateral part of your eyebrow, etc. When people come in for an Asian Eye lid fold procedure, I sit down with them and recreate the crease while the patient looks in the mirror to determine exactly what they want. This is a really important part of the consultation. Going to a facial plastic surgeon that understands the Asian patient and how Asian eyelid surgery works for this particular patient is important as well. Many surgeons attempt to make Asian patients look more caucasian and this can be a mistake. In fact, when an Asian Plastic Surgery requests this change I really talk to them about this and what this westernization type of eye lift / blepharoplasty can do to change their appearance. I often get many Asian patients asking me to change their westernized eyelid back so they look more Asian. Many times these patients had their surgery done in Asia, which is puzzling to me.
Dr Young is located in Bellevue near Seattle, Washington