Ingredient Beauty BenefitsArea · Eyes
Ptosis correction — a different operation from double eyelid surgery, and it is not about skin
It corrects an eye that looks small because the muscle opening it is weak. Where double eyelid surgery makes a crease in skin, this adjusts where the muscle attaches.
Last checked Sep 20, 2026
At a glance
- Time in surgery
- 40–80 min
- Anaesthesia
- Local
- Downtime
- 7–14 days
- Until the final shape
- 3–6 months
- Scarring
- Where it does not show
- Can it be undone
- Only partly
- Relative cost
- Lower
Cost is not an amount but a band among the surgeries on this site. It is measured on a different scale from the cost band on the procedure pages, so the two cannot be compared.
What the operation does
An eye can look small for several reasons. Eyelid skin may hang over it, or the muscle that lifts the lid may be weak, or its attachment to the lid may be loose. The second is ptosis.
The two look similar from outside but what has to be fixed is different. Do only double eyelid surgery on a muscle problem and you get a crease without a bigger eye. Trim only skin on a muscle problem and the result sits awkwardly in between.
The operation advances and re-fixes the muscle's attachment to the tarsal plate, or shortens a structure behind it. A crease is often created at the same time, so the two are done in one sitting — but they are separate operations.
It is done under local anaesthetic, often asking you to open your eyes during surgery so the height can be set.
What to know
Exact symmetry is hard. The two eyes differ in lifting strength to begin with, and anaesthetic and swelling both affect that strength. A height set during surgery is not guaranteed to hold once the swelling goes.
Over-correction and under-correction are both common. Lift too much and the eye does not close fully, drying the cornea overnight; lift too little and the reason you came is still there.
Judge the result at three to six months. While swelling remains it usually looks opened too far.
If the eye does not close fully afterwards, if it becomes severely dry, or if one side is noticeably different, do not put it all down to swelling. Tell the surgeon who operated.
What decides the result
Establish the cause first. Whether skin is covering the eye or the lifting muscle is weak decides which operation you need. If you habitually use your forehead to open your eyes — brows riding up, lines across the forehead — that points toward the muscle.
A more modest height is safer. Undoing an eye opened too far is harder than opening one a little more.
You will need artificial tears for a while. A more open eye has more surface to dry out.
Say in advance if you wore hard contact lenses for years. That can be why the attachment loosened, and it changes the plan.
Before you decide
How much can be undone is limited. An adjusted attachment can be reoperated and moved, but it is harder to work with the second time and there is less tissue.
Revision is not rare. Coming back over asymmetry or height is relatively common with this operation. It is better to have counted on that possibility in advance.
If a bigger-looking eye is the goal, note that the impression is not made by the eye alone. Brow position, shadow under the eye and the proportions of the whole face all work together.
Whether to have it done is settled with a doctor.
What has been checked about this operation
Fourteen randomized trials in congenital ptosis — technique and material move different columns
One thing first: this evidence is about congenital ptosis — a lifting muscle weak from birth — and the indication differs from adult ptosis correction done for appearance. It is included because randomized comparisons of technique in this operation essentially exist only here.
The analysis pooled 14 randomized trials, 657 patients (909 eyes). The summary is that no single method won everywhere; different methods moved different columns.
- A frontalis sling raised lid opening (MRD1) more than levator plication
- Levator resection raised palpebral fissure height (PFH) more
- Materials differed too — silicone rods beat Gore-Tex on PFH, while autologous fascia was better for symmetry and contour
So the conclusion is not "this operation is best." It is that what you are trying to raise changes which one applies.
The journal rated the level of evidence III.
- Randomised controlled trial in people (14) · 657 participants · Compared with another technique · Funding not declared · Endpoint instrument measurement PMID 37145320 · abstract read
The brow drops an average of 2.10mm after surgery
Upper-eyelid surgery lowers the eyebrow. Pooling 9 of 17 studies, brow height fell by an average of 1.45mm across upper-eyelid surgery (95% CI 0.87–2.07, P < 0.0001), and for ptosis correction it was 2.10mm.
A heavy lid makes people lift the brow with the forehead muscle to clear their field of vision. When surgery lightens the lid, that effort is no longer needed and the brow settles back. The operation did not pull the brow down so much as release what had been holding it up.
How much skin was excised did not affect brow height.
So it matters first whether what has descended is the lid or the brow — operating only on the lid of someone whose brow has dropped can lower it further. This pools observational studies and has no control group.
- Observational study in people (9) · sample size not reported · Compared with no control group (before-and-after only) · Funding not declared · Endpoint instrument measurement PMID 36890345 · abstract read
Where this operation sits
The concern it belongs to
Other operations in the same slot
- Double eyelid surgeryOnly partly
- Epicanthoplasty and lateral canthoplastyOnly partly
- Lateral canthoplastyCannot be undone
Whether to have it done is a decision to make with a doctor.