Preoperative asymmetry of upper eyelid thickness in young Chinese women undergoing double eyelid blepharoplasty

SummaryAsymmetry of the eyelid crease is a major complication following double eyelid blepharoplasty; the reasons are multivariate. This study presents, for the first time, a novel method, based on high-definition magnetic resonance imaging and high-precision weighing of tissue, for quantitating preoperative asymmetry of eyelid thickness in young Chinese women presenting for blepharoplasty. From 1 January 2008 to 1 October 2011, we studied 1217 women requesting double eyelid blepharoplasty. The patients ranged in age from 17 to 24 years (average 21.13 years). All patients were of Chinese Han nationality. Soft-tissue thickness at the tarsal plate superior border was 5.05 ± 1.01 units on the right side and 4.12 ± 0.96 units on the left. The submuscular fibro-adipose tissue area was 95.12 ± 23.27 unit2 on the right side and 76.05 ± 21.11 unit2 on the left. The pre-aponeurotic fat pad area was 112.33 ± 29.16 unit2 on the right side and 91.25 ± 27.32 unit2 on the left. The orbicularis muscle resected weighed 0.185 ± 0.055 g on the right side and 0.153 ± 0.042 g on the left; the orbital fat resected weighed 0.171 ± 0.062 g on the right side and 0.106 ± 0.057 g on the left. In conclusion, upper eyelid thickness asymmetry is a common phenomenon in young Chinese women who wish to undertake double eyelid blepharoplasty. We have demonstrated that the orbicularis muscle and orbital fat pad are consistently thicker on the right side than on the left.