The lower eyelids are the first facial feature to show signs of facial aging and blepharoplasty, the plastic surgery operation used to rejuvenate the eyelids is one of the most common plastic surgery operations performed today. Many patients seeking blepharoplasty have puffy lower eyelids, dark circles under the eyes, wrinkles, and loose skin. Advanced eyelid aging changes such as these require a more complex blepharoplasty that includes fat removal or repositioning, arcus marginalis release, skin tightening or removal and canthopexy, a procedure that tightens the lower eyelid.

However, many patients only have excess or lax lower eyelid skin, which is most noticeable beneath the lateral or outer corner of the eye, and do not have the puffiness and laxity of more severely aged lower eyelids. For these individuals a minimally invasive blepharoplasty technique called the "pinch blepharoplasty" can provide very satisfactory results with minimal postoperative recovery time. Typically the pinch blepharoplasty can be done with local anesthesia, avoiding the need for general anesthesia.

The pinch blepharoplasty involves making a small incision in a normal skin line or "crow's foot" just beside the corner of the eye where the upper and lower eyelid meet. The incision is then extended beneath the eyelashes for about a centimeter or