Dr. Albert Dal Canto, MD

Training and board certification

• Board certification as printed: "a board-certified ophthalmologist." The site does not name the board.
• Member and Fellow of the American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (ASOPRS) (service).
• Joined Intermountain Healthcare's physician division in 2007 and has served patients in the Salt Lake Valley since then.
• The home page states he is the only oculoplastic surgeon in the Intermountain Medical Group.

Eyelid surgery work

• Upper blepharoplasty. Treats dermatochalasis (excess loose skin and bulging fat). He removes skin and contours fat through an incision hidden in the natural eyelid crease.
• Lower blepharoplasty. Herniated fat is removed or repositioned through an incision on the inside surface of the eyelid. The lid is sometimes tightened horizontally at the outer corner. When extra skin can be safely removed, a separate incision is made just below the lashes.
• Ptosis repair. Ptosis is described as lowering of the upper lid margin, most often from age-related stretching of the levator muscle. Repair tightens the levator through a skin incision or a deeper eyelid muscle through an incision on the underside of the lid. Children born with ptosis should be corrected early to allow normal visual development.
• The page states ptosis surgery and blepharoplasty are the most common operations he performs. Some patients have both at once.
• Malposition. Ectropion is most often repaired by tightening the lid at the outer corner; entropion repair is also described.
• Gallery. The photo gallery shows before-and-after sliders for upper, lower, and upper and lower cosmetic blepharoplasty (2-4 months after surgery) and upper eyelid ptosis repair (1-3 months after surgery). It also shows ptosis repair combined with blepharoplasty, entropion repair and eyelid tumor reconstruction (source).

Other procedures

The home page lists brow lifting with cosmetic upper blepharoplasty, Botox and fillers, Mohs defect repair, dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR) for tearing, orbital fracture repair, Graves disease of the eyes, eye tumors, anophthalmic socket reconstruction, enucleation or evisceration, and pediatric eyelid and tear duct surgery (index).

Insurance and cost

• Lower eyelid blepharoplasty is "always performed on a cosmetic basis"; upper eyelid surgery may be cosmetic or covered by insurance. His office seeks preauthorization for functional surgery (service).
• Accepted plans for select procedures: Medicare, Medicaid, SelectHealth (all plans), Tricare, United Healthcare, DMBA, Humana MedAdv PPO, Workers Compensation Fund Utah, and some Aetna and PEHP plans (accepted).
• Insurance preauthorization usually takes 3-4 weeks. Cost is reviewed after the first visit, and payment for non-covered services is due before surgery (faqs).

Recovery

• Work and social activities: about one to two weeks.
• No exercise, bending, lifting, brisk walking or alcohol, generally for 1 week.
• First follow-up visit: 5-8 days after surgery; stitches out in about one week.
• Swelling and bruising peak at 24-36 hours; cold packs for the first 3-4 days and reclined sleep for 3-5 days.
• Surgery takes place at the Alta View Hospital outpatient surgery center or the clinic procedure room, under general or local anesthesia with sedation.