Is Eyelid Surgery Painful?

When considering the double eyelid surgery, patients often ask: is eyelid surgery painful?

The simple answer is no, but it is strongly recommended that you speak with a board-certified and experienced specialist to ensure the best result.

To explain further, we have to define double eyelid surgery. Double eyelid surgery, also commonly known as “Korean eyelid surgery,” is a procedure that creates a double lid from a monolid. In the hands of a board-certified and experienced expert, this procedure is not painful at all.

Korean eyelids tend to have either a monolid or a double eyelid and many patients of Asian descent desire a double eyelid fold. When performing blepharoplasty for patients of Asian descent and patients of other ethnicities, local anesthesia is used to deliver the anesthetic to the eyelid. Once the local anesthesia is in the eyelid, the anesthetic blocks the nerve’s pain receptors and there is no pain whatsoever during surgery.

Double eyelid surgery, also known as blepharoplasty for Asian eyelid, is not a painful surgery. Converting a monolid to double eyelid sometimes involves the removal of some fat and creating a double eyelid fold or a double eyelid crease. Some patients have excess upper eyelid skin that needs to be removed in order to create the desired result. The excess eyelid skin means the patient has a condition described as eyelid ptosis. Traditionally, in cases where eyelid ptosis surgery is performed, there can be minimal discomfort. However, with newer, advanced surgical techniques, even eyelid surgery that treats ptosis can be performed with zero pain for the patient. With modern techniques, during surgery to creating a double-fold eyelid, a strong local anesthetic will completely numb up the nerves in the eyelid and prevent pain.

About the procedure

Dr. Kim is pleased to offer patients advanced techniques where there is no pain for the patient, whatsoever. The patient is awake and is comfortable during the entire double fold eyelid procedure. Some patients wish to talk while other patients may sleep during the procedure. Dr. Kim may ask the patient to open their eyes if needed. In all cases, the double-fold eyelid procedure will be completed without any pain or
discomfort.

This procedure can take anywhere from 30 minutes to one and a half hours.

Dr. Kenneth Kim is a board-certified plastic surgeon in Los Angeles who specializes in blepharoplasty and Korean eyelid surgery.