Oculoplasty, eye surgery
Written by:What is oculoplastic surgery?
Oculoplastic surgery is a subspecialty developed within the field of ophthalmology. It deals with diagnosing and treating all those conditions of the structures that surround the eyeball itself, such as the eyelids, the lacrimal ducts and the structures that surround the eyeball and that lie between it and the bone. of the orbit, that is, muscles, fats, connective tissue ...
All this is what we call orbit and all the diseases that occur in this area are those that we treat specialists in ocular or reconstructive plastic surgery.. In the same way, we also face within this subspecialty surgeries of more cosmetic scope. All that is eyelid cosmetic surgery, use of botulinum toxin, palpebral bags surgery, liftings and others.
What conditions does oculoplastic surgery treat?
The oculoplastic surgeons treat a wide variety of pathologies and almost always face them from a surgical point of view. If we speak within the scope of palpebral pathology, the oculoplastic surgeons what we most frequently treat are tumor pathologies; cysts, benign tumors, malignant tumors and their reconstruction.
At the same time we also treat what we call palpebral malpositions which are situations in which patients do not have their eyelids at the right height. That is to say, we can find a very elevated upper eyelid, retracted, or an upper eyelid very fallen or descended, which is what we call a palpebral ptosis. In those cases what we have to try surgically is to reposition it in its normal position.
Likewise with the lower eyelid, when it is facing outward or inward you have to try to reposition it to avoid any pathology that may arise from this. Within the pathology of the lacrimal pathway, patients come to our office for lacrimation. Lacrimation can be caused by an infinity of causes and therefore an ophthalmologist must be prepared to know all of them and be able to face their diagnosis and treatment.
The specialists in eyelid surgery have a plus advantage in this sense because many causes of tearing are in the eyelid itself and that is why we are the ones who, in short, see these patients more frequently.And finally in the field of orbit, the pathology that we most often see is what is called thyroid orbitopathy. It is a disease that is commonly known to be very striking. Patients tend to have very bulging eyes in a context of hyperthyroidism and it is us, the oculoplastic surgeons, who are trained to diagnose, treat and minimize the poor quality of life of patients with this disease always within a multidisciplinary context.
what results can be expected?
The results that an oculoplastic surgeon can offer you will depend on the pathology that we are talking about. The vast majority of them must be treated from a surgical point of view. We are not the subspecialty that most treats patients with eye drops, ointments or oral medication.. Our problems will almost always be solved in the operating room, unfortunately.
However, it could be said that the vast majority of all these interventions are performed in an ambulatory setting in which the patient is not admitted and simply undergoes a surgery under local anesthesia, sometimes it is necessary to sedate patients a little. for your comfort. The vast majority of occasions has a fairly comfortable recovery and quite easy, since it is a very specific and very delimited anatomical region. Patients recover relatively easily.
