How to Get Rid of Epicanthal Folds?
By Kath Wong | December 30 2019
Have you noticed that some people have longer and sharper eyes than you actually do and you just can’t really find the reason? It could be because of the mongolian folds! Mongolian folds, also known as epicanthal folds, are the folds at the inner corner of the eyes. Everyone has different fold shapes all around the world; it is most common for Asian people to have mongolian folds.
Mongolian folds form a web across the eye and cover the medial canthus; this can make the eyes look smaller and tired. The type of eye surgery to go for correcting mongolian folds is Epicanthoplasty. The treatment aims to unfold and lengthen the inner parts of the eye so that the eyes would appear bigger and more attentive.
How are Mongolian Folds Corrected?
Epicanthoplasty involves making fine incisions in the epicanthal fold region to form a network of skin flaps, then extra skin will be removed. The treatment follows by suturing; this avoids or minimizes scar formation.
For some people, just lengthening the folds outward does not help to make the eyes look more energized as they have monolids. A combination with double eyelid surgery may be recommended to perform along with epicanthoplasty to optimize the result.
Moreover, there is also another treatment that is recommended to be done along with epicanthoplasty and double eyelid surgery to further enlarge the eyes: Eye Corner Lowering Surgery.
In some cases, just unfolding the inner corner of the eyes do not help much in making the eyes look larger. Eye corner lowering surgery is normally done by pulling the eye corner down to expand the shape of the eye.
Possible Risks and Side Effects of Mongolian Folds Correction
・As the surgery is performed at the inner corner of the eyes, there is a high risk for tear ducts to be damaged as they are very close to the operation area.
・Poor scarring may be one of the problems if the treatment is not performed properly. For normal cases, scars can be noticeable for a few months and disappear over time.
・Allergies to the anesthesia or sutures could be one of the risks, but it is highly unlikely as skin testing for allergies is usually done prior to the treatment.
・Another extremely rare risks include infection at the incision site. Despite being rare, this complication can be easily solved by oral or topical antibiotics.
Overall, the procedure is easily performed without any problems, with high satisfaction of a brand new set of bigger, refreshed eyes.
