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Articles about Blepharoplasty

Medicare Funding Eyelid Lifts – Possible Insurance Fraud?

Monday, June 3rd, 2013

The media has been all over this one.  Statistics are showing that the number of people utilizing Medicare to pay for upper eyelid lifts has increased significantly.  From Salon.com:

From 2001 to 2011, eyelid lifts charged to Medicare more than tripled to 136,000 annually, according to a review of physician billing data by the Center for Public Integrity. In 2001, physicians billed taxpayers a total of $20 million for the procedure. By 2011, the price tag had quadrupled to $80 million. The number of physicians billing the surgery more than doubled.

“With this kind of management malpractice, it’s little wonder that the [Medicare] program is in such dire shape,” said Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla), who is also a physician. “The federal government is essentially asking people to game the system. Every dollar we spend on cosmetic surgery that isn’t necessary is a dollar that can’t be used to shore up the program for people who need it the most.”

Plastic surgeons say there are a number of legitimate reasons for the spike, including a tendency among the elderly to seek fixes for real medical issues they might have quietly suffered through even a decade ago. But surgeons also acknowledge an increased awareness of the surgery fueled by reality television, word-of-mouth referrals, and advertising often including dramatic before-and-after photographs that promises a more youthful appearance. And doctors concede they face increased pressure from patients to perform eyelid lifts, even when they do not meet Medicare’s requirement that peripheral vision actually be impaired.

In my practice, I haven’t seen an increase in the number of seniors having this covered by Medicare.  Medicare has specific guidelines for what is needed to get an eyelid lift covered.  That being said, it’s possible for some patients (and doctors) to game the system by falsifying visual field testing.  I’ve had more than one patient ask me to bill insurance for their eyelid lift when it’s not indicated.  I just tell them that I don’t commit fraud.

Here is a video I did for Fox News of an eyelid lift that was billed to insurance (appropriately!):

For more on this story, visit Salon.com.
 

 

Plastic Surgery Can Give The Gift Of Sight? My Recent Fox News Segment

Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012

 

Do Eye Creams Really Work?

Sunday, June 20th, 2010

 

The Beauty Brains Blog has an interesting post called “Do Eye Creams Really Work?” This blog looks at various cosmetics from a scientific and chemist’s point of view. Check it out here.

Do I think eye creams work? Yes… to an extent. Here is how I describe the three major causes (and treatments) of dark undereye circles:

  1. Cause: thinning of the undereye skin, making it transparent and allowing the blood vessels underneath to be seen.
    Treatment: eye creams that thicken the skin, making it appear less transparent and smoother (such as Obagi’s Elastiderm).
  2. Cause: excess pigmentation (mainly seen in people with darker skin, not usually a concern in Caucasians).
    Treatment: creams with skin lightening agents.
  3. Cause: shadowing from puffy bags under the eyes.
    Treatment: lower blepharoplasty surgery, which removes the fat that causes the puffiness and hence, the shadowing. Click here for before-and-after blepharoplasty photos.

Removing undereye wrinkles is not an easy task. Unfortunately, there is no ‘magic bullet’ even when surgery is involved that can make a wrinkled, droopy, puffy lower eyelid look perfect afterwards. If you are considering a lower eyelid blepharoplasty, make sure to avoid bargain-basement cosmetic surgeons, otherwise you may end up with an ectropion. Click here for the gruesome image of it (don’t say I didn’t warn you!).

Photo credit: beautybrains

Thanks for reading.
Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.

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