Functional Eyelid Surgery

Your eyelids are vital to protecting your eyes, and if your eyelids suffer from an injury, disease or aging it can significantly impair your vision and impact your appearance. Our goal for treating all eyelid problems is to restore your vision and appearance to the way it was before — or better.

Sometimes changes in your eyelid strength, shape or position can dramatically affect your comfort and appearance, and you may experience limited peripheral vision, problems keeping your eyelids open, difficulty driving or reading, or have skin cancer on your face or eyelids. Treatment at OHSU Casey Eye Institute is personalized and specialized for your unique condition, and our doctors have the surgical expertise and experience to protect the delicate structures of your face and eyes.

Our expertise

Our Oculofacial team provide the highest quality care for your functional eyelid condition,. We offer:

  • Board certified and fellowship-trained doctors who have completed advanced training to become specialists in cosmetic surgery.
  • Leaders in oculofacial surgery who pioneer the latest surgical techniques, publish research and teach other experts.
  • Decades of experience in reconstructive surgery involving the delicate structures of the face.
  • Coordinated care with other Casey and OHSU specialists, including ear nose and throat and cancer doctors, to achieve the best possible appearance after injury, surgery or disease.
  • The most advanced technology in each of our treatments and surgeries. 

Our doctors

Common conditions

The most common eyelid problems we treat at OHSU Casey Eye Institute's Oculofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery division include:

  • Ptosis (when the upper eyelid droops)
  • Entropion (when the eyelid turns inward, which can cause eyelashes to brush again the cornea)
  • Ectropion (when the lower eyelid sags away from the eye)
  • Dermatochalasis (when the eyelids droop because of excess eyelid skin)
  • Trichiasis (when eyelashes grow inwards toward the eye)
  • Blepharospasm (the involuntary blinking or spasms of the eyelids or other facial muscles)
  • Skin cancer
  • Problems related to an accident or other trauma

Each of these conditions can impact vision as well as impact facial appearance. It is common for patients to have cosmetic lower eyelid surgery and cosmetic eyebrow or forehead lift surgery performed simultaneously with cosmetic or reconstructive upper eyelid surgery. At OHSU Casey Eye Institute, we find that patients who choose procedures that improve both form and function are the happiest with their post-operative result. Learn more about cosmetic surgery.