Defining epicanthal fold and epicanthoplasty
by Dr. Lee Joo Hyuck (KIES-U plastic surgery Korea)
Epicanthoplasty is now very common and popular surgery. However, I feel that there are not many who know about epicanthoplasty whenever I have an interview with the patients.
What is epicanthoplasty?
Most of the patients who want to have epicanthoplasty think that “if the eyes are far apart, then it means epicanthoplasty is needed.” However, as you see in the picture below, eyes being far apart is not a simple problem.
The reasons for epicanthoplasty vary a lot. Let’s look at each one of them.
First of which is to firmly secure the double eyelid line.
There are many differences in the eyes of the asian and the western people. The westerners have thin eyelid, less fat around the eyes, and the eyes look opened out.
The asian peoples have think skin and the eyes stick out. There are much fat around the eyes, and the eyes look hidden. This is mainly due to epicanthal or mongolian fold.
Mongolian fold is also called epicanthic fold; it is a wrinkle in the inner part of the eye.
Mongolian fold causes the upper eyelid to fold inwards. We call this infold line.
All westerners have outfold double eyelid. The westerners do not have Mongolian fold and do not have fat around the eyes.
If the epicanthal fold keeps on pulling the double eyelid line, the double eyelid folds inwards and therefore drops low after some time.
Therefore, if you want a secure double eyelid, then we need to remove the epicanthal fold. This is the biggest reason for epicanthoplasty.
Second, is to remove the epicanthal fold to get a more sophisticated look.
Most Southeast Asians have epicanthal fold. Our ancestors believed that his epicanthal fold was necessary however, these days, we perceive it as something that gives a dark look on the face.
If the epicanthal fold is removed, the front tail of the eyes looks differently and gives a bright sophisticated impression on the face. This is one of the best ways of giving a western look on the face.
Third is to narrow the distance between the eyes or making the eyes longer.
We need to consider two things when we talk about the distance between the eyes.
If the two pupils are close together, we call this cross-eye. If you have such cross-eye, epicanthoplasty can give you improved results. You can look more intelligent after the correction.
Epicanthoplasty surgical method
If the distance between the two eyes is far apart, then the epicanthic part or the inner side of the eyes are far apart. This is the most common reason on why the patients want epicanthoplasty.
Let’s look at the techniques of removing of the Mongolian fold, i.e. epicanthoplasty.
Periciliary Epicanthoplasty is the method that leads to minimum scar. Most of the clinics today use this method.
This procedure requires a three dimensional thinking. We need to cut the skin that is rolled up like a tissue roll, and spread it out in order to remove the Mongolian fold.
The theory may seem simple, but coming up with such a procedure required much understanding of the anatomy of the eye and its surroundings.
Before this, all the epicanthoplasty required geometric design and cut on the epicanthic fold causing scars.
As Periciliary Epicanthoplasty became popular, a scar-less epicanthoplasty has been possible.
Today we looked at the details of epicanthoplasty and Mongolian fold. Has the post helped?
Have a good day.
KIES-U Plastic surgery Korea
.jpg)
