You can know if your baby has ptosis by watching how he/she behaves. If the baby has ptosis, he/she may always try tipping their head back to see correctly.

The child may also struggle to raise his/her eyebrows to lift their eyelids and see better. Other than these behaviors, you may also notice a significant drooping in either one or both of your baby’s eyes.

Does Ptosis go away in Babies?

If your child is diagnosed with ptosis, your doctor will recommend further assessment by a pediatric ophthalmologist or an appointment with an oculoplastic surgeon for ptosis surgery in Singapore. A ptosis condition that occurs within your baby’s first year after the birth or at birth is known as congenital ptosis.

It is primarily due to complications with the muscle that aids in raising the eyelid, known as the levator muscle. If a baby is diagnosed with congenital ptosis, the levator muscle may not have fully developed, implying that it won’t have enough strength to lift the eyelid.

If your baby is diagnosed with congenital ptosis in both eyes, there may be a need for further testing to rule out other complicated issues like neurological disorders, muscular diseases, eyelid tumors, and eye-movement abnormalities.

Congenital ptosis may also be caused by a nerve problem in the baby’s eyelid. Other potential causes include; eye movement disorders, nervous system and brain complications, injury during birth, and eyelid growth or tumors.

Now, you shouldn’t confuse congenital ptosis with the minor facial asymmetries that most babies spot during the first few months after birth. These asymmetries, including the baby’s eyelids, are majorly influenced by how the baby lies in the uterus.

They should naturally resolve within the first few months after birth. If they fail to go away, and the child has a significant drooping of the upper eyelid, they may be confirmed to be having congenital ptosis.

Congenital ptosis rarely gets any worse or causes severe health conditions, but it also rarely goes away, meaning that your baby’s ptosis may not go away. In most cases where the ptosis is mild or moderate, treatment may not be necessary unless you fancy a cosmetic eyelid surgery to correct your baby’s eye appearance.

However, if the eyelid droop is too severe such that it causes vision complications for your young one, there may be an urgent need for surgery to help him/her to have normal vision development. Usually, a board-certified ophthalmologist or an oculoplastic surgeon will only need to tighten the baby’s levator muscle to improve their vision.

If the baby has extremely weak levator muscle strength, he/she may need to have the eyelid suspended to specific muscles in the forehead to help lift the eyelid. This procedure is known as the frontalis sling fixation.

The Ideal Age for Ptosis Surgery in Babies

If your baby’s vision isn’t impacted and you’re only considering ptosis surgery in Singapore to improve his/her appearance, you may need to wait until the baby is around 3 to 4 years old. At this age, the baby is a bit grown with much-developed eyelids, which won’t be really complicated working with.

As mentioned early, if the ptosis is severe, immediate surgery will be necessary to improve the baby’s condition and, most importantly, prevent other potential complications like amblyopia, also known as lazy eye. The surgery can improve not only the baby’s functions of the eye but also the looks. If the child only has mild ptosis, they will need regular eye exams to ensure that complications like amblyopia do not set in.

During ptosis surgery in Singapore for your baby, the surgeon will also offer treatments for any eye problem that may have resulted from ptosis. There may be a need for the child to wear special glasses, which would be prescribed to correct complications like astigmatism, characterized by blurred vision.

The doctor may also recommend that they use an eye patch which would help improve their vision if the condition isn’t too severe and can be managed by eye exercises for ptosis. After the treatment, the child will need regular visits to a specialist for eye exams to ensure that the droopy eyelid condition has fully subsided, and the child hasn’t developed any other vision complications.

How long will it take for my Baby to Recover after Ptosis Surgery?

When you schedule an appointment with a knowledgeable oculoplastic surgeon for ptosis surgery in Singapore, they will give you an estimate of the period your child will need to recover fully. Importantly, they will provide you with guidelines for taking care of the young one’s eye to prevent complications. Therefore, you shouldn’t really worry much about your child struggling with recovery after upper eyelid surgery.

The baby may need up to three months to recover fully from this procedure. Here’s a summary of what you can expect as your child recovers after ptosis surgery in Singapore:

  • First Week after Surgery: Within the first week following your baby’s ptosis surgery in Singapore, you will need to ice the treated region as instructed by the surgeon. This will help minimize the swelling and discomfort that may come with this treatment. You will also need to clean the area around 4 to 6 times each day, as recommended by the plastic surgeon.
  • One to Two Weeks after Surgery: Within seven days after the baby’s upper eyelid surgery, you will need to see the surgeon to have the sutures removed. During this period, the side effects like swelling and bruising due to the treatment should begin resolving.
  • One to Two Months after Surgery: After around one to two months, you may notice still a bit of swelling on your child’s face. At this stage, they should be able to engage in most activities apart from the ones prohibited by the surgeon.
  • Two to Three Months after Surgery: After two to three months after your baby’s ptosis surgery in Singapore, he/she should have fully recovered. The swelling and related side effects should have subsided at this stage, and the child can see clearly.

Wrapping Up

Do you have any concerns or fears with your baby having ptosis surgery in Singapore? A board-certified plastic surgeon would be your best resource. Shoot us a quick email now to book your appointment.

Allure Plastic Surgery

435 Orchard Rd, #22-04 Wisma Atria, Singapore 238877

+65 6734 9988