Eyelid and brow asymmetry in patients evaluated for upper lid blepharoplasty

INTRODUCTION: In evaluation for blepharoplasty, patients often desire improved cosmesis and/or correction of visual field deficits. However, patients are usually unaware of eyelid or brow asymmetry. Furthermore, the prevalence of eyelid and brow asymmetry is infrequently reported in the medical literature. PURPOSE: To determine the prevalence of brow and eyelid asymmetry in patients evaluated for upper lid blepharoplasty. METHODS: One hundred consecutive patients evaluated for upper lid blepharoplasty were included in the study. Standard pre-operative photographs were taken of all patients using consistent background and photographic equipment. Two of the authors (KM & AM) independently recorded the margin pupil (MPD), central eyebrow (CED), nasal eyebrow (NED) and temporal eyebrow (TED) distances. To test the inter-observer reliability, the senior author (SMT) recorded the same measurements for 10% of randomly selected patients. We calculated 95% confidence intervals to compare symmetry between the right and left sides. RESULTS: One hundred patients (94 female, mean age 57.7) were included in the study. The average MPD, CED, NED and TED distances were 0.55 mm (95% CI 0.45-0.65), 1.77 mm (95% CI 1.47-2.07), 1.34 mm (95% CI 1.14-1.54), and 1.78 mm (95% CI 1.50-2.06), respectively. Ninety-three percent of patients had at least one asymmetric measurement of greater than 1 mm. Seventy-five percent of patients studied had at least one measurement greater than 2 mm while 37 percent had at least one greater than 3 mm. CONCLUSION: Brow and eyelid asymmetry is common in patients being evaluated for upper lid blepharoplasty. The facial plastic surgeon should identify and document facial asymmetry pre-operatively, and discuss it with prospective blepharoplasty patients. This will improve informed consent and patient expectations.