• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.262-266
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• 2005

In some blepharochalasis patients, upper blepharoplasty alone is not satisfactory because of narrow distance between eyebrow and eyelash. On that occasion, eyebrow lift is advisable. There are many methods of classical eyebrow lift, such as direct excision, transblepharoplasty approach, anterior hairline technique, and so on. But they are not so effective, have a tendency to recur and also give rise to side effects; unacceptable scar, facial nerve palsy, sensory loss and hematoma, etc. Some patients who have prominent nasolabial folds, are reluctant to perform face lift procedure due to psychologic or economic burden. The authors performed the eyebrow lift procedure separately or simultaneously with face lift or forehead lift. After making 2 or 3 slit incisions, we passed absorbable suture material, 3-0 vicryl, through suborbicularis oculi fat layer. Then it was passed through subperiosteal plane and fixated to the temporalis fascia. When patients complain prominent nasolabial folds, malar fat pad was elevated also in the same manner. This methods is effective and has minimal complication such as facial nerve palsy, scar, sensory loss. Recurrent tendency was rarely observed during follow-up. Dimples were observed at slit incision sites but they disappeared within 2 or 3 weeks. Eyebrow lift and malar fat lift by absorbable suture elevation with subperiosteal dissection is a simple and less morbid. Because of its effectiveness and little side effect or complication, this procedure can be a useful method.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.250-257
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• 2007

Purpose: Aging changes of midface include drooping of lower lid, wrinkles of malar area, orbitomalar groove and deepening of nasolabial fold from drooping of malar fat pad. Improvement of lower lid can be achieved through lower blepharoplasty, but improvement of cheek can not be gained. Superficial subciliary cheek lift(by Moelleken, 1996) is a method that lifts malar fat pad through extended subciliary incision. We obtained simultaneous improvement of lower lid, malar wrinkles and orbitomalar groove with modification of this technique. Methods: From December 2003 to January 2006, we performed this method on 21 patients among volunteers for lower blepharoplasty who wanted to correct orbitomalar groove and malar wrinkles. Under local anesthesia, lateral extension of subciliary incision is done 1cm from the lateral orbital rim. Skin-muscle flap is elevated, and dealing of orbital fat and septum is the same as with ordinary lower blepharoplasty. After downward subcutaneous dissection through extended incision, exposing the upper 1/3 level of malar fat pad, superolateral fixation is done to superior deep temporal fascia. Excision of the upper part of fat pad is performed, if needed. After excision of overlapped skin-muscle flap, skin closure is done. Results: We obtained satisfactory results with this simple method for improvement of orbitomalar groove and malar wrinkles among patients for lower blepharoplasty. During a follow-up period of 5 months on the average, no revision was performed. Conclusion: Under local anesthesia, lower blepharoplasty and improvement of orbitomalar groove and malar wrinkles can be achieved at the same time. It is good for patients who do not want conventional midface-lifting. But surgeons should select patients and perform cautiously for it may leave a scar of the extended incision that require over 2 months for maturation and it is insufficient for improvement of nasolabial fold compared to conventional mid face-lifts.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.581-588
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• 2008

Purpose: It is generally accepted that anatomical structures of the soft tissue in Asian faces are quite different from those in Caucasian. It is presumed that these differences are due to collagen rich thick dermis and durable superficial musculo-apponeurotic system (SMAS) in Asian. We classified the aging lower eyelids and reviewed the operative procedures according to the types of aging lower eyelids in Asian. Methods: We compared preoperative and postoperative photos of 117 patients over 30 years of age, who underwent lower blepharoplasty at the Kyunghee Medical Center from January 2001 to April 2006. We classified the patients based on the degree of skin laxity, presence of nasojugal groove and malar bag, the extent of aging process. We also reviewed the operative procedures according to each type of classification. Results: We classified our patients into four types as following. Type I patients showed minimal skin-muscle excess confined to lower eyelids regardless of the facial line. For these patients, we performed only transcutaneous or transconjunctival blepharoplasty. In type II patients, nasojugal grooves were shown and skin- muscle laxity was limited to the medial side of imaginary vertical line at lateral margin of pupil. In these cases, we performed free fat graft or fat repositioning on nasojugal groove or fat removal and septal duplication confined to medial side. Type III patients displayed more advanced medial bulging and remarkable laxity over the lateral side, the same operation methods as those of type II were applied at the lateral side of the line. Type IV patients demonstrated extensive midfacial aging changes including malar bags and underwent superficial subciliary cheek lift. Conclusion: The lower eyelid aging of Asian is different from those of Caucasian. We think that our classification is useful in selection of appropriate operative procedure to address specific problems for Asian patients.