Eye’s on Sugar
I don’t mean to pick on Rene Zellweger, but this is a very common problem in cosmetic eyelid surgery. She was born with beautiful hooded Scandinavian eyes and gorgeous arched eyebrows to frame those eyes. As she aged, there was loss of volume in her brow and forehead/temple areas. This resulted in a loss of support for the brow and upper lid complex. So the lid became heavier and looked more hooded, and her eyes looked tired. The RIGHT procedure to reverse this aging process is to REPOSITION the brow and to SUPPORT the brow and lid complex. In the past, this proposal is very difficult for many patients to accept because a traditional brow lift involves a cut across the top of the head from ear to ear (a coronal incision) which is very invasive. Most 30-40-year-old patients with early drooping of the eyelid are not going to accept this method of treatment.
It is much easier to tell patients all you need to do is to cut off the excess skin directly. Hence, the traditional eyelift (blepharoplasty) was born. However, when you remove the skin, the muscle is underneath and is obstructing the closure. So the muscle has to be removed. What is under the muscle is fat. Fat is now obstructing the closure, so the orbital has to be removed as well. So, a traditional eyelift involves removal of SKIN, MUSCLE, and FAT, which hollows out the eyes. Also, in order for the skin edges to close, the brow has to come down so the skin edges can be re-approximated. So, with a traditional eyelift, you can cut the skin/muscle/fat out so that the eyes are no longer hooded. However, the eyes will look more hollowed out, and the brow will look lower and more masculine, especially for a woman. This is what happened to Rene Zellweger. The surgery was successful in removing the drooping skin, but it completely changed her look.
Here is a patient sent to me after a traditional upper and lower blepharoplasty. She has the typical hollowed out “Gaunt” look with rounding of the eyes and sclero show (white part of the eye showing because the lower lid contracted after fat removal, so she actually looks older). The images on the right are after correction of the lower eyelid position and volume restoration of the eye with Powdered Sugar Fat.
There is a new paradigm shift in eyelid surgery. Less or cutting of the upper eyelid skin/muscle or fat is better. In the Contour Eyelift, the upper lid skin is re-draped and supported with Powdered Sugar fat. It restores the natural shape and contour of the eye without any scars or risk of rounding or hollowing out of the eyes. The natural arch of the brows will be restored to enhance the eyes rather than crowding the eyes.
No Cutting of the Upper Eyelids
The isolation of “Powdered Sugar Fat” is a new advancement in isolation of regenerative cells from Fat. Previous Vogue Article featured ‘Super Fat” that is super condensed fat fortified with additional Stem Cells isolated from the Super Fat. That fat is still very coarse, like injecting pebbles of fat. It is best used UNDER the thicker skin of the face to create volume and shape.
The eyelids or the peri-orbital skin is very thin. So it is very risky to inject fat there because the risk of lumpiness. The “Powdered Sugar Fat” is made by non-traumatically dissociating it via a set of filter system, so the fat parcels are actually at about 200 microns small. It is now down to microscopic clumps of Stem Cells/Progenitor Cells, Pre-adipocytes, wrapped around by a few fat cells. These are very potent regenerative cellular UNITS that have the potential to differentiate into cells that can make more collagen and elastin. Because the parcels of fat/cells are so fine and smooth, it is like injecting Powdered Sugar Fat. The risk of lumping or clumping of fat in the eyelid or inside of the orbit is greatly reduced. It is also perfect for rejuvenating the back of the hands.
