SECTION 01
Standardize the eyes and camera
Useful views include relaxed forward gaze, eyes gently closed when appropriate and consistent camera height, distance and lighting. Raised brows, widened eyes or a shifted gaze can change visible skin, crease height and apparent symmetry.
Makeup, lash products, tape and contact-lens effects should be disclosed or avoided for comparison photographs. Cropping should include enough brow and facial context to interpret the eyelid position.
SECTION 02
Early wound stage
Early images can show bruising, swelling, incision lines, dressing marks and uneven crease definition. These features vary between sides and do not establish the final result.
External sutures, when used, are often reviewed around day 7 and may be removed then, but the surgeon decides according to technique and healing. Sudden vision change, severe eye pain, rapidly increasing swelling or new difficulty closing the eye requires immediate local emergency eye assessment rather than photo comparison.
SECTION 03
Intermediate settling stage
As bruising and larger swelling reduce, residual puffiness, firmness, redness and crease differences may remain. The rate varies by procedure, revision status and individual healing, so images should state their date rather than use vague labels such as healed.
Compare eye closure and relaxed gaze where provided, but remember that photographs cannot assess dryness, sensation, visual symptoms or full eyelid movement.
- Do not compare one patient's intermediate stage with another's later stage.
- Check whether brow position changes between images.
- Ask whether more than one eyelid procedure was performed.
SECTION 04
Later review and result variability
Later images can better show crease and scar maturation, yet aging, expression and natural asymmetry remain. No image can prove permanence or exact symmetry.
Use a sequence to understand change, not to self-diagnose. Concerns about eye comfort, closure, vision or worsening symptoms need an examination by an appropriate clinician.