As we age our skin becomes less elastic and excess skin may become a problem around the eye lids. It can be unsightly and start to affect your vision. This excess skin can be removed with an operation called a blepharoplasty. Dr Hay-Smith can help remove this excess skin and restore lost vision and often impart a more youthful appearance to the eye lids.

The loss of elasticity in skin as we get older can lead to eye lids that droop out (Ectropion) or turn in (Entropion).  Both of these problems can be unsightly.  In turn they can also cause a range of other problems such as dryness of the eye surface, scratching of the eye surface from in-turning eyelashes and repeated eye infections (conjunctivitis).  Some infectious diseases such as trachoma can cause entropion in younger people – especially if they have lived in more remote hot and dry places.

Entropion and Ectropion can both be repaired with day surgery and Dr Hay-Smith can discuss any eye lid problem with you.

Watery eyes can become a significant problem for some people, and the continuous excess tearing can be both annoying and embarrassing. The cause in most often an overproduction of tears from inflammation of the eye lids (Blepharitis) but for some it results from a blockage in the drainage mechanisms of the eye.  The blockage can sometimes be cleared with a simple and painless “probe” of small drainage tube.  It is normal to do this and to establish where any block may be in the clinic.

The tears have a long way to travel to the back of the nose where they drain (that is why your nose normally runs when you cry or on a cold and windy day).  A blockage in this part is not easy to clear so instead a new opening is made into the nose higher up to bypass the blockage.  This is an operation called a Dacryocystorhinostomy, or more commonly a DCR.

Above is not a complete list of ophthalmic procedures. Please make an appointment to discuss any eye problems that you have.