Midwest Eye Care Institute

Ptosis Repair

Ptosis is the medical term for drooping of the upper eyelid. This condition can affect one or both upper eyelids, and can occur as a result of aging, trauma, muscular or neurological conditions or may be congenital.

Correction of ptosis in adults may be done at the same time as blepharoplasty and is accomplished by repositioning the levator muscle tendon (anterior approach) or resection of the Muller's muscle and conjunctiva (posterior approach).

In Dr. Conlon’s experience, both an anterior and posterior ptosis surgery can achieve excellent surgical outcomes. However, in many cases a posterior approach, involving the resection of Muller’s muscle and conjunctiva gives the most consistent result, especially in cases where a pre-operative test (phenylephrine test) has given a favorable result.

Ptosis surgery is usually performed under local anaesthesia with light sedation. The procedure takes approximately 30 minutes, and can be combined with other functional or cosmetic eyelid procedures. For example, it is not uncommon to tighten the lower eyelid at the time of ptosis surgery to reduce tearing, or to perform a cosmetic browlift to improve the overall aesthetic result of the ptosis surgery.

Following ptosis surgery, it is advisable to avoid any strenuous activity or heavy lifting for one week. Immediately following the surgery you will be instructed to apply an ice pack to the eyelids, which is recommended you use off and on for the next 48 hours.

In the before and after photo gallery, you will see a number of patients Dr. Conlon has recently performed ptosis surgery on and you will see excellent symmetry is achieve in many cases. However as with any surgery, exact symmetry cannot be guaranteed, and in a minority of cases minor surgical revision may be required to achieve satisfactory symmetry.