Changing Demands and Costs of Eye Surgery

Technology never ceases to amaze. Or at least, to go cheaper.

A lot of the many activities and services that are now widely available and affordable to the public used to be highly exclusive to a privileged few.  Take for instance cosmetic services. There was a time when cosmetic operations, particularly laser treatments were prohibitively costly and can be afforded by very few well-off customers. And then too, the cost of recovery was similarly too expensive for the average consumer.

Today however, many technological breakthroughs have made these procedures well within reach even of the average wage-earner. It comes as no surprise than that more and more people are drawn into availing of these services.

The Demand for Eye Surgery Procedure

Take for instance the fact that more than a million people annually worldwide undergo some form of eye surgery. In Asian countries like China and Singapore, scarless eye bag removal surgery is the number one most popular cosmetic procedure. This of course does not include more basic beauty problems like acne which in regular cases do not require any invasive procedure.

On the one hand, the fascination to improve the physical appearance of the eye is obvious. The eye is the most visible and often most appreciated part of the face and therefore in many cases determines attractiveness. On the other hand, much of it already has to do with vanity rather than practicality. Of course desirability has been known to cause psychological problems like loss of confidence and self-esteem and improving a person’s look do have certain mental benefits. But if one considers that most people who undergo eye surgery are not necessarily clinically depressed individuals, there is reason to suspect that the desire is not for curative purposes.

High Risks, Expensive Alternatives

Although technology has made eye bag removal very affordable, it still involves substantial cost especially if the benefits are weighed alongside possible risks and side-effects which will further require additional money. Even scientists themselves point out the high risks involved in even the most ordinary eye surgery method. These risks range from getting permanent scars to even the possibility of blindness.  

In order to avoid the costs of such risks, the alternatives ironically appears just as costly. New surgical methods, have presented proofs of being newer, safer, more sophisticated non-surgical procedures.

In Singapore, these new eye bag removal method include pinch eye bag removal which involve extracting fat through the inside of the eyelid and then removing a ‘pinch’ of skin from the area without cutting deeper into tissues or extracting muscles.  On the other hand, laser blepharoplasty remove eye bags using laser technology. Although this procedure requires longer healing time, it is nonetheless popular since it safer and is scar-less. Recently, a number of Singapore scarless eye bag surgery clinics have also started offering transconjunctival blepharoplasty which involves using electrocautery, an electrically heated instrument, to burn the tissues, make the cut inside the lower eyelid and then remove fats without leaving any visible mark.  Of course, the many promises of these more state-of-the-art procedures come with a heftier price tag.