Follow us on Instagram @wherebeforemeetsafter
Nov. 29, 2024

Why do I always look tired? [Shannon O'Brien, MD, Portland]

Eyes are key to connection, but aging can make them look unintentionally sad, tired, and angry. Portland plastic surgeon Dr. Shannon O’Brien breaks down the reasons this procedure is so popular.

She explains how puffiness and shadows can make the...

Eyes are key to connection, but aging can make them look unintentionally sad, tired, and angry. Portland plastic surgeon Dr. Shannon O’Brien breaks down the reasons this procedure is so popular.

She explains how puffiness and shadows can make the eyes look tired, how sun damage adds to the problem, and why sagging upper eyelids can be dangerous.

Links

Read more about Portland plastic surgeon Dr. Shannon O'Brien

Follow Dr. O'Brien's practice on Instagram @portlandplasticsurgerygroup

To learn more about Dr. Shannon O'Brien, listen to her episode of Meet The Doctor

Where Before Meets After brings credible, accurate information about plastic surgery, aesthetic procedures and treatments to the researching audience from trusted plastic surgeons and aesthetic professionals.

For more information about being a guest or sponsor of Where Before Meets After, visit wherebeforemeetsafter.com. If you're a doctor or an aesthetic professional and have ever thought about doing your own podcast, you can try podcasting for free on our Meet the Doctor podcast. Schedule your recording session at meetthedoctorpodcast.com.

Where Before Meets After is a production of The Axis

Transcript

Eva Sheie (00:00):
Last night I was talking to a friend and about two years ago she asked me if I was going to do any cosmetic surgery, what would give me the most bang for my buck? And I said, your eyes. Eyelid surgery is, according to the data, it's the fifth most popular procedure. And it's one of those, I think, well, I want your thoughts. Why do you think that it's so popular and that people love it so much?

Dr. O'Brien (00:29):
I think that eyelid surgery is a nice pick me up. When we look at people, when we make contacts, so much of our relationships, we're looking at people's eyes. And as we age, our eyes tend to look smaller, they tend to look a little less bright, they get shadowed and they look tired, and nobody likes to feel like they look tired. Everybody likes to feel like they're exuding the energy that they have. And when your eyes just start getting a little heavier, you don't present yourself with that same sort of energy that you may be feeling inside. I think that when people are seeing themselves in pictures, they feel like they lose their eyes, when they're smiling before surgery and they feel like they see them afterwards. And I just think that the recovery is really quite manageable. Most people are back to work after a week's time, and so it doesn't knock them down very much. So it really just puts a lot of pep in people's step again.

Eva Sheie (01:29):
What are the most common reasons that people complain about their eyes and show up asking for eyelid surgery?

Dr. O'Brien (01:35):
A lot of people, it's interesting, don't equate the puffiness under their eyes as eyelids. They'll often say, my eyelids are just the upper. And then what do we do about the bags under my eyes, which are actually the lower eyelids and a lower eyelid lift. But those are the two things, heaviness of the skin around or overhanging their eyelashes, or their makeup is getting smeared, or they feel like they just don't see their eyes as well as they used to when they smile. And then the puffiness under their eyes, making 'em look heavy or tired.

Eva Sheie (02:10):
What actually causes your eyes to look like that over time?

Dr. O'Brien (02:14):
Well, the skin on the eyelids is pretty thin, and we lose elasticity in our skin everywhere. And when you're already starting with a very, very thin layer of skin, you lose some elasticity and you see it more, I think we blink something like 17,000 times a day. And so just that action sort of wears things out a little bit. And then just, there's a lot of animation around the eyes when we smile, when we close our eyes tight, if we sneeze, whatever, there's just a lot of movement around our eyes, and that also wrinkles and crinkles the skin and all of those things create lines. And then there's sun damage and all of these things also sort add to the aging of the eyes. And that's true for the skin. As far as the lower eyelids, there is a septum that kind of holds the fat in place because actually a lot of fat around our eyes, it pads thems so they can kind of glide and the muscles can kind of glide. But when that septum on the lower eyelid and sometimes at an area right by the nose on the upper eyelid, those septums can get a little weak. And sometimes they even have little gaps or kind of spaces where the fat can bulge forward. And when that happens, it pushes everything forward and creates shadows under your eyes, looks that heaviness there.

Eva Sheie (03:41):
Is there a certain age where this starts to happen pretty much to everybody?

Dr. O'Brien (03:45):
I think pretty consistently by our forties, everybody's noticing a little bit of change. There are some folks, even some children that will have that little puffy pocket of fat under their eyelids even as children. So sometimes people will come in in their earlier years, twenties, thirties, and ask about it. Sometimes, it's rare that somebody in their twenties is truly ready for eyelid surgery, but every now and then there's somebody who may have that sort of more congenital bulging of that fat pocket or a little herniation of that fat pocket. But otherwise, yeah, forties and beyond is what's most common.

Eva Sheie (04:22):
Are there people for whom their eyelids can actually interfere with their vision and get in the way?

Dr. O'Brien (04:28):
Yeah, eventually the upper eyelid skin, if it gets heavy enough, if it hangs down low enough, it can start to block some of the vision, the peripheral vision. We talk about visual field obstruction, and so it's kind of like when you see horses in Central Park or whatever with the blinders on that starts to happen and people can't see out the corners of their eyes as well, which can affect driving or in Portland, bike riding, et cetera. And so

Eva Sheie (04:56):
You gotta be able to ride your bike.

Dr. O'Brien (04:56):
You got to be able to ride your bike and see those cars. Yeah, so that's where we start seeing visual field. It also is fatiguing and people, their eyes will be tired by the end of the day and they have a hard time getting through their day of work or what have you before they start getting, their eyes just get worn out because those little thin muscles are trying to hold a lot of extra skin to a lot of extra work.

Eva Sheie (05:17):
On this podcast, we bring you directly to the doctors who are where before meets after. Links to our guest's website and contact info are in your show notes. Follow us on Instagram @wherebeforemeetsafter. Where Before Meets After is a production of The Axis, the podcast agency for aesthetics, theaxis.io.

Shannon O'Brien, MD Profile Photo

Shannon O'Brien, MD

Plastic Surgeon in Portland, Oregon

For plastic surgeon Shannon O’Brien, every day in the OR is a little different as she helps her patients with a wide range of aesthetic and reconstructive procedures, from face and neck to breast and body.

Dedicated to helping patients feel comfortable enough to open up about their goals and concerns, Dr. O’Brien takes as much time as needed during her consultations and never wants anyone to feel rushed.

Dr. O’Brien is a partner of Portland Plastic Surgery Group, where she practices with three other talented plastic surgeons.