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Cosmetic Eye Surgery Overview
Eyelid plastic surgery is the most popular of all cosmetic surgery procedures performed on patients of Asian descent in the Orient and one of the most popular in Western countries (just behind rhinoplasty in men and breast augmentation in women).
More accurately considered a grouping of related operations rather than just a single procedure, the most well-known of these is double eyelid surgery, an operation designed to create or enhance the upper eyelid crease. However, all of the procedures described in this Section are tied together by their common primary intent, which is to make the Asian eye appear bigger and the eyelids look more opened.
While the specific anatomic layers of the Asian eyelid are identical to those found in the Occidental or European lid, their different structural alignment and relative lengths and thicknesses are sufficient to account for the highly characteristic appearance of the typical East and Southeast Asian upper eyelid, epicanthal fold, and crease (or lack thereof).
Eyelids quite similar in physical appearance can be found in other distant groups of people, such as the indigenous Indian populations of North and South America, the result of nomadic migrations many centuries ago across the Bering Strait separating what is now Russia and Alaska.
Confusingly, most of the people of northern, southern, and western Asia share few of what are considered "characteristic Asian traits," especially around the eyes.
While the term "Oriental" might thus seem a more descriptive and localized designation for traits and operations designed for people of the eastern and southeastern sections of this large continent, its use is currently considered politically-incorrect.
Many Asian eye surgeons consider eyelid surgery to be the most demanding and least forgiving of all cosmetic plastic surgery procedures.
Results can vary tremendously with the training, skill, and experience of the doctor, and problems such as noticeable asymmetry, excessive scarring, misdirected eyelashes, unwanted accessory skin folds, hollowness, overdone or unnatural results, and a gradual loss of the crease are by no means rare.
In more opinionated quarters, Asian cosmetic eye plastic surgery is seen as controversial or much worse because of its ability when overdone to mute or erase normal ethnic facial features, a process known as "Westernization."
Although the number of operations performed continues to escalate, there is some early suggestion of an emerging "backlash" against anatomic modification within even moderate groups as Asia continues its rise in political and economic global importance.
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