Ptosis

In addition to helping you achieve the best possible eye health, we also offer solutions for conditions that affect vision but not necessarily the eyes themselves. One such condition is ptosis, also known as droopy eyelids, which can make you look less youthful and alert. In severe cases, droopy eyelids can obstruct vision.

What is Ptosis (Droopy Eye)?

Ptosis, or blepharoptosis, refers to the drooping of the upper eyelid. This condition occurs to varying degrees, sometimes drooping just a little and other times drooping so much that it hangs into your line of sight and obstructs your vision. Ptosis can cause one or both of your eyelids to droop. It can affect children from birth as a congenital condition, but most commonly, it develops in adults as part of the natural aging process.

If you have ptosis that obstructs your vision, you might have trouble keeping your eyes open, causing you to tilt your head back or raise your eyebrows in order to see. Symptoms of ptosis may even get worse when you’re tired, or when your facial muscles are tired from keeping your eyebrows raised for long periods of time.

What Are the Causes of Droopy Eyes?

Ptosis is caused by the weakening of the levator muscle — the muscle that opens and closes your eyes— which causes your eyelids to droop. In children, ptosis is considered a congenital condition due to the levator muscle not forming correctly, and the resulting droopy eyelids can interfere with visual development and lead to other vision problems like amblyopia (lazy eye) if not corrected.

In adults, ptosis is caused when the levator muscle stretches or separates from the eyelid as a result of aging or trauma to the orbital area. While the condition remains fairly stable in children with congenital ptosis, age-related ptosis in adults will gradually get worse over the years, causing sagging eyelids to further obstruct the vision.

How do you Treat Droopy Eye?

Sagging eyelids from ptosis can be treated surgically by repairing or tightening the levator muscle in order to raise your eyelid. The goal of droopy eyelid surgery is to elevate the eyelid so that vision is not blocked, and in cases where only one eyelid is affected, your surgeon will take special care to restore symmetry to your face.

Experienced Eyelid Surgeon

When you come to Eye Center South for ptosis surgery, this delicate procedure will be performed by Dr. Richard W. Bryant, our highly-experienced oculofacial plastic and reconstructive surgeon.