Effects of endoscopic forehead/midface-lift on lower eyelid tension.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate and quantify the increase in lower eyelid tension (stress) after endoscopic forehead/midface-lift in a cohort of patients with normal lower eyelid function preoperatively.


METHODS
A prospective nonrandomized study was conducted at a private facial plastic surgery practice and ambulatory surgical center on 22 patients who underwent subperiosteal endoscopic forehead/midface-lift from October 2000 to June 2002. Patients were evaluated preoperatively, 4 to 6 months postoperatively, and approximately 12 months postoperatively.


RESULTS
Compared with preoperative lower eyelid tension, there was a 4- to 5-fold increase in lower eyelid tension at 3 and 5 mm of distraction immediately after the operation. Four to 6 months after the operation, lower eyelid tension decreased but was still 2 to 3 times that of preoperative values. Twelve-month measurements for the 15 patients who remained in the study (the other 7 patients were lost to follow-up or refused to have measurements taken) showed that lower eyelid tension was 1.7 to 1.9 times preoperative values.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results show that lower eyelid tension increases following endoscopic forehead/midface-lift and that this increased tension is long lasting and quantifiable 12 months after surgery.
Villano
Michael E
ME
Department of Otolaryngology--Head Neck Surgery, University of Rochester, New York, USA. mev@cascadefaces.com
Leake
Deirdre S
DS
Jacono
Andrew D
AD
Quatela
Vito C
VC
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004724:Endoscopy; D005143:Eyelids / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015361:Rhytidoplasty / Q000379:methods*; D013314:Stress, Mechanical