Upper Blepharoplasty vs Double Eyelid Surgery

The difference

What separates upper blepharoplasty from double eyelid surgery?

The answer in brief

Upper blepharoplasty treats an upper lid that has descended: Rewind removes lengthened skin, upper-lid fat and slack muscle through the line of the fold and fixes the septum. Double eyelid surgery creates or redefines a crease, by a buried suture method anchored at seven micro-grooves, a partial incision of about five to seven millimetres, or a full incision. The first answers what has come down; the second answers where a fold should sit.

Facts on this page come from Rewind's Korean pages for the upper lid and for each crease method, together with the clinic's post-operative sheets and rate list.

For the second question, which procedure suits ageing eyelids and which suits monolids, the usual split is simple. A lid that has lost elasticity and now overhangs its own fold belongs to upper blepharoplasty, which the clinic files under middle-age eye surgery. A monolid, or a lid with a faint fold, whose tissue has not descended belongs to double eyelid surgery. The two meet in the middle, where a thick lid with some sagging can sit on the full-incision crease list as well.

That overlap is where most of the confusion starts. Both operations can involve an incision in the fold and removal of fat. What differs is the aim and the amount of tissue: a crease operation is designed around the line, and upper blepharoplasty is designed around the excess.

At the examination

How Rewind decides between upper blepharoplasty and a double eyelid crease

The decision is made on the lid, in a set order. Each step either takes one of the two operations off the table or keeps both on it.

01Rest

The lid is looked at relaxed

With the forehead at rest, the surgeon sees whether skin lies over the lid edge or over a fold, or whether the lid is simply smooth and single.

02Fold

Is there a crease, a hidden crease or none?

A crease buried under skin points toward removing the skin. No crease at all, on a lid without surplus, points toward designing one.

03Surplus

How much tissue is surplus?

Lengthened skin, fullness from fat and slackened muscle are gauged. Surplus tissue belongs to upper blepharoplasty, while a lid with little surplus can take a buried or partial-incision crease.

04Lift

Does the lid rise well?

A weak lift is a separate finding. If it is present, eye-opening correction is listed as an addition to a crease, and the page on ptosis correction vs double eyelid surgery explains that decision.

05Wish

What look is being asked for?

Someone wanting a new, defined fold and someone wanting a lighter, less tired lid can have similar lids. The request shapes which operation is offered and how the line is designed.

Rates compared

Upper blepharoplasty vs double eyelid surgery: Rewind's listed rates

The rates follow how much each operation does. Every figure below is in Korean won, includes the anaesthetic fee and excludes VAT.

Where a fold and removal of tissue are both part of a plan, the quotation lists each operation separately, with VAT as its own line.

A lower figure is a poor reason to pick one operation over the other. A lid that needs its surplus removed gains little from a cheaper crease, and a lid that needs only a fold gains nothing from the larger operation. The crease figures are broken down further on the double eyelid surgery cost page.

Healing compared

Recovery after upper blepharoplasty compared with a double eyelid crease

The recoveries differ most between the buried crease and the two incisional operations. Rewind's pages and post-operative sheets give these figures.

A full-incision crease sits between the two, with a line whose redness the clinic expects to have eased by around two months. Every eyelid operation carries the risks of bleeding, infection, asymmetry between the lids, dryness and scarring, and a crease set too high for the lid can look thick and heavy, which Rewind's crease pages put down to over-correction.

Questions

Upper blepharoplasty or double eyelid surgery: questions patients bring to the examination