Eyelid surgery leaves you with thin incision lines hidden in the natural crease of your upper lid or just below the lash line of your lower lid. In the days after the procedure, your eyes will look swollen and bruised, but that fades steadily over one to two weeks. The long-term result, once scars fully mature at around six to twelve months, is a smoother, more open-eyed appearance with scars that are nearly invisible to the casual observer.
Where the Incisions Go
For upper eyelid surgery, the incision follows the natural crease above your eye. It’s typically placed 9 to 11 millimeters above the lash line in women and 7 to 9 millimeters in men. Because it sits right in the fold, the scar tucks into the crease when your eyes are open. The surgeon removes a strip of excess skin (and sometimes a small amount of fat or muscle tissue) through this single line, then closes it with fine stitches.
Lower eyelid surgery has two main approaches, and they look quite different from the outside. The more traditional route places the incision about 2 millimeters below the lash line, extending slightly past the outer corner of the eye into a natural wrinkle. The other option, called a transconjunctival approach, hides the incision entirely on the inside of the lower lid. This internal method leaves no visible scar at all and is often used when the main goal is removing or repositioning puffy fat pads rather than trimming loose skin.
What You Look Like Right After Surgery
Immediately after the procedure, your eyelids will be coated in antibiotic ointment, which makes your vision blurry and gives the eye area a greasy, shiny look. Some surgeons apply a small adhesive patch over the area. You may notice bloody tears or light oozing from the incision sites for the first 24 to 48 hours, which is normal. The stitches themselves are very fine, sometimes nearly hair-thin, and sit along the incision line. Small crusts can form around them.
The overall impression in those first hours is puffy, slightly bloody, and glazed with ointment. It’s the least flattering stage, and it’s temporary.
The First Two Weeks of Healing
Swelling and bruising build over the first three days and peak somewhere between days three and seven. During this peak phase your eyelids may look dramatically puffy, with dark purple or yellowish bruising spreading across the lids and sometimes down onto the cheeks. Most people describe looking like they’ve been in a fight. After about day five, the swelling starts to retreat noticeably each day.
Stitches are typically removed between days five and seven if non-absorbable sutures were used. Some surgeons opt for dissolvable stitches, which break down on their own and don’t require a removal visit. Either way, once the stitches come out, the incision line looks like a thin pink or red mark.
By the end of week two, most of the obvious bruising has faded to a faint yellow or green that makeup can easily cover. Puffiness may still be noticeable in the morning but tends to settle as the day goes on. Many people feel comfortable returning to work and social activities at this point.
How Scars Change Over Months
Scar maturation after eyelid surgery follows a predictable visual arc. In the first month, the incision lines are pink or slightly raised. They’re most visible during this stage, though they’re still quite thin. Between months one and three, the scars flatten and fade to a paler tone. Most people feel comfortable going without makeup by the end of this window.
From three to six months, scars become barely perceptible, especially on the upper lid where they’re tucked into the crease. The final maturation happens between six and twelve months, when scars soften, thin out further, and blend with the surrounding skin. The full process takes patience, but the eyelid skin is among the thinnest on the body, and it tends to heal with remarkably little visible scarring compared to other surgical sites.
Upper Versus Lower Lid Results
Upper eyelid surgery creates the most dramatic visual change. Before the procedure, heavy or drooping skin can fold over the lid and partially cover the eye, making someone look tired or older. Afterward, the lid looks cleaner and more defined, with a visible crease and more of the eyelid showing. The eyes appear wider and more alert. This is true whether the surgery was done for cosmetic reasons or to clear skin that was physically blocking the field of vision.
Lower eyelid surgery targets a different set of concerns. The goal is usually reducing puffiness or bags beneath the eye and smoothing loose, crepey skin. The result is a flatter, smoother under-eye area. When done through the inside of the lid, there’s no external scar at all. When done through an external incision, the scar sits so close to the lash line that it’s extremely hard to spot once healed.
What Doesn’t Look Right
Knowing what normal healing looks like also means knowing what falls outside that range. The most common issue patients notice is mild asymmetry, particularly in the lid crease. One side may heal slightly higher or deeper than the other, or one eye may have more residual hooding at the outer corner. Minor asymmetry often improves as swelling resolves unevenly between the two sides, but persistent differences may need a small revision.
A more serious visual sign to watch for on the lower lid is a pulling-down of the eyelid edge, exposing a rim of white below the colored part of the eye. This is called scleral show, and in more pronounced cases the lid can actually turn outward. It results from too much skin removal or scarring that contracts the lid. Early intervention can often correct it before more complex reconstruction becomes necessary.
Webbing at the inner corner of the eye is another recognizable sign of a problem. It happens when the upper lid incision extends too far toward the nose, creating a visible fold of skin that bridges the inner corner in a straight line rather than following the natural contour.
How Long Results Last
Eyelid surgery doesn’t stop aging, but it does reset the clock significantly. Most patients report lasting satisfaction with their results for at least five years. Upper lid results can last even longer because gravity has less effect on skin that’s been trimmed and repositioned in a crease. Lower lid work, particularly fat removal, also tends to hold well since the fat pads that cause under-eye bags don’t typically regrow. Over time, though, skin continues to lose elasticity naturally, and some degree of sagging will eventually return. Roughly 120,000 eyelid surgeries are performed annually by board-certified plastic surgeons in the United States alone, making it one of the most common facial procedures, and repeat surgeries years later are not unusual.