Oculoplastics (Oculoplastic Surgery)

What are oculoplastics?

Oculoplastic surgeries, often referred to simply as oculoplastics, are procedures that repair or alter the appearance of parts of your face connected to and immediately around your eyes. These procedures can affect soft tissues like skin, fat and muscle, and the bones of your skull, too.

Oculoplastics can be cosmetic or medical. An important thing to remember is that cosmetic doesn’t mean unimportant or vain. It’s a lot harder to feel comfortable and confident if you don’t like something about your appearance, which is why appearance differences or changes that you don’t like about yourself can negatively affect your mental health and well-being.

And oculoplastic procedures aren’t just for age- or appearance-related concerns. Oculoplastic procedures can repair injury- or disease-related changes. Oculoplastic procedures are very common, partly because so many procedures fall under this umbrella and because there are so many reasons why a person might need one of those procedures. Oculoplastic surgeries can:

• Repair damage from injuries or diseases.
• Alter differences in appearance due to congenital conditions or malformations.
• Change the structure of your face to prevent serious medical conditions.
• Alter your appearance for cosmetic reasons.

The location for these surgeries can vary, too. Some oculoplastic procedures are simple, outpatient surgeries and you can go home the same day. Others may involve a hospital stay while you recover from the surgery itself or because of other related concerns or events.

Which parts of my face can oculoplastic surgeries affect?

Oculoplastic procedures can involve any of the following:

• Eyebrows.
• Eyelids.
• Tear system.
• Bones of your skull around your eyes.
• Muscles, fat, skin and other soft tissues around your eyes.

What kind of procedures fall under oculoplastics?

Oculoplastic surgeries can treat dozens of conditions and issues. Examples of specific oculoplastic procedures include:

• Eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty). This is a blanket term that can apply to many different procedures. The common thread for these surgeries is that they change your eyelids’ shape.
• Surgeries on your eyebrows and lower areas of your forehead. Examples include eyebrow lifts or other brow surgeries for any reason.
• Laser skin resurfacing. This can be a treatment for the skin of your eyelids or areas of your face around your eyes.
• Removing unwanted skin growths or changes. Common examples include skin tags and warts.
• Tear system surgeries. These include procedures like tear duct surgery (dacryocystorhinostomy) and other procedures to unblock or widen your tear drainage routes.
• Repairing facial trauma. This is especially the case for eyelid injuries of any kind.
• Tumors anywhere inside your face or around your eyes. That includes cancerous (malignant) and noncancerous (benign) growths.
• Facial appearance changes after eye removal (enucleation). This includes placing socket implants to hold your eye socket’s shape, and can allow you to wear a prosthetic eye.

Who can do oculoplastic surgeries?

Physicians from a few different specialties can do oculoplastic surgeries. And the specialties involved can depend heavily on how complex the surgery needs to be.

Surgeons who do oculoplastics usually come from the following fields:

• Ophthalmology. These are medical doctors who specialize in eye care. When they specialize in surgery, that can include oculoplastic procedures.
• Plastic and reconstructive surgery. These are surgeons who specialize in surgeries on surface tissues and structures. Cosmetic surgeries change appearance only. Reconstructive surgeries restore your appearance or change it when a condition, disease or other issue causes unwanted effects or changes.

Simpler superficial procedures, which only affect your skin and none of the tissues underneath, are often doable by providers like dermatologists or even primary care providers. Examples include removing warts or skin tags, or laser procedures to reduce wrinkles.

Is oculoplastic surgery painful?

The tissues in your face, especially around your eyes, are very sensitive to touch and pain. Anesthesia is part of these surgeries, preventing you from feeling pain during these procedures. General anesthesia, which puts you into a deep sleep so you don’t feel pain, is usually the preferred method. But there are many reasons why local or regional anesthesia, which numb specific areas of your face, would be the best choice for your case.

After surgery, you’ll likely feel some pain or discomfort. But your surgeon will talk to you before your surgery about the plan for pain management after the procedure. It’s common to use prescription medications to help limit your pain while your face heals. Your surgeon may also recommend using over-the-counter (OTC) medications like NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) to help manage surgery-related pain and inflammation.

Is it safe to have oculoplastic surgery?

Generally speaking, oculoplastic surgery is safe. But it does come with some unavoidable risks, which are the same with any type of surgery. Those include:

• Complications, reactions and side effects from anesthesia.
• Infection.
• Bleeding.
• Pain.

While some risks are unavoidable, healthcare professionals do everything they can to shift the odds in your favor. One way to do that is with a team approach. Surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses and many other clinicians combine their skill sets and work together. That means they plan and prepare for various risk factors so they can react quickly and expertly, if necessary.