Upper Blepharoplasty or Eyelid Ptosis Surgery: How to tell which you Need

Upper Blepharoplasty

Treats excess skin, fat, or muscle on the upper eyelids. Patient complaints may sound like: “My eyelids look heavy or droopy,” there is often cosmetic or visual field obstruction. The clinical exam should find redundant eyelid skin (dermatochalasis) hanging over the lashes.

Removing the excess skin and fat can improve aesthetic appearance and peripheral vision if excess skin obstructs it, but does not correct true lid droop.

Key point: Blepharoplasty treats the skin and soft tissue around the eyelid, not the muscle that lifts it.

Eyelid Ptosis Surgery

Treats weakness or dysfunction of the levator muscle, which lifts the upper eyelid. Patients may complain of “One or both eyelids are lower than they should be, and they look asymmetric”. A clinical exams reveals an eyelid margin that sits abnormally low—often covering the pupil partially, regardless of excess skin.

Surgery tightens or advances the levator muscle to raise the eyelid margin. It is often medically necessary if the droop interferes with the visual axis.

Key point: Ptosis surgery corrects the eyelid height itself—not just the excess skin.

Important detail

In many cases, blepharoplasty and ptosis repair are performed together, especially when both excess skin and true eyelid droop are present. Combining the procedures allows for both functional and aesthetic correction in a single surgery.