The word blepahroplasty means to remove excess tissue (skin, muscle or fat) from the eyelid.  It can be performed for cosmetic reasons, or to improve field of vision (peripheral vision)  We often use the term to describe plastic surgery of the eyelid.

Blepharoplasty is derived from the Greek words blepharon, meaning eyelid, and plastos, meaning formed.  It is one of the oldest described treatments of the aging face.

Excess skin of the upper lids did not appear in the literature until Beers, a Viennese ophthalmic pioneer described it in 1792.

In 1818, a German ophthalmologist, Von Graefe, was the first to term blepharoplastik  (blepharoplasty) for removal of excess skin of the upper lid for the treatment of eyelid cancer.  The term has remained ever since.

Today blepharoplasty is one of the most common cosmetic surgeries performed in the world.

We must always thank and remember those who paved the way for what we know and do today.