So when we are talking about the z epicanthoplasty (Dr Young specializes in Asian Eyelid and Facial Plastic Surgery in Bellevue, WA), we are talking about reducing or rearranging the skin that is in the inside portion of the eyelids. This is the skin that covers the eye in the middle part of the eye. This extra skin is called the epicanthal fold. What happens when an Asian Blepharoplasty is performed, the tension created from a higher eyelid crease is placed on the epicanthal fold and a round eye deformity can occur. The epicanthoplasty widens the eye in the inside part of the eye and ultimately it makes the whole eye look bigger. The Z epicanthoplasty is unique in that it uses only the eyelid skin and is less prone to scarring. Older techniques traversed onto the thick nasal skin. This lead to more tension and more scarring. Keeping all the incisions in the thin eyelid skin prevents much scarring and keeps it too a minimum. Scarring is unavoidable whenever an incision is made but this can be controlled so that the scarring is barely visible. The beauty of the Z epicanthoplasty is also that the landmarks that this technique uses is consistent, simple and reproducible. Other techniques are very arbitrary. The Z epicanthoplasty is also easily incorporated into the upper eyelid skin incision and fits naturally into the new crease that is created unlike other epicanthoplasties that may have reproducible landmarks. You can see my other blogs for the drawings that we use for the Z epicanthoplasty designed by Dr Jung I Park. Here is video on Asian Blepharoplasty and Medial epicanthoplasty.
I hope that helps.
Thanks for reading, Dr Young
Dr Young specializes in Facial Cosmetic and Reconstructive Surgery and is located in Bellevue near Seattle, Washington