Double Eyelid Surgery for the Hearing Impaired: Experiences with Incisional Ptosis Correction

It happens from time to time.

Occasionally, hearing-impaired patients visit the clinic for double eyelid surgery.

They often undergo ptosis correction simultaneously.

In the past, I even had a situation where several hearing-impaired patients came in one after another. ^^;;

At that time, I proceeded with the surgeries using simple sign language.

In reality, because they cannot hear, there are some difficulties regarding the instructions to open and close their eyes during the procedure.

Let’s look at how the surgery is conducted.

1. First, for the initial consultation, the patient should be accompanied by someone who is proficient in sign language and can speak. (P.S. Just to clarify, those with severe hearing impairment may have difficulty with verbal speech.)

This is necessary to have a detailed consultation about the eye shape and to achieve the desired look.

2. Before the surgery, we coordinate how the procedure will be carried out. We pre-arrange signals for when to open the eyes or for other specific requests I might have during the operation.

3. We establish a method for the patient to notify me if they feel any discomfort.

This is crucial because if they need to tell me something during surgery, they must not suddenly move their hands toward their face, which has been sterilized for the procedure.

Depending on the patient’s preference, we can create an ‘outline’ as shown above, or an ‘in-out line’ double eyelid as shown below.