Training and board certification
Source for all rows: source
| Stage | Detail |
|---|---|
| Medical school | University of Toledo College of Medicine |
| Residency | Grand Rapids/Michigan State University Surgery Residency Program |
| Fellowship | Orthopaedic Hand Surgery Fellowship, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota |
- Board certification: "board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery."
- Clinical assistant professor, Department of Surgery, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine; teaches residents in the Michigan State University Residency Program.
- Member, Michigan State Medical Society.
- Has published and reviewed articles on hand and plastic surgery and presented at national meetings.
- Areas of interest listed: hand and wrist surgery, microsurgery, soft tissue reconstruction, body contouring and breast surgery including breast reconstruction.
Eyelid surgery work
- The page names Dr. Shannon Armstrong, Dr. William Cullen, Dr. Matthew Fahrenkopf and Dr. Matthew Martin as the practice's surgeons for eyelid surgery.
- Blepharoplasty is done under local numbing medication with intravenous relaxation, usually in less than two hours, as an outpatient procedure.
- Upper lids. The surgeon cuts along the eyelid fold to remove excess skin, muscle and fat, then closes the incision.
- Lower lids. The incision sits just below the lashes or inside the lower lid. Excess fat is removed or redistributed, sagging skin is removed and the area is tightened.
- Ptosis. The page describes ptosis as a weak or detached tendon of the lid-raising muscle, corrected by reattaching the tendon or shortening the muscle, alone or with blepharoplasty.
- Eyelid surgery can be combined with facelift or brow lift.
Brow lift. The site describes a coronal brow lift (one ear-to-ear incision in the hairline) and an endoscopic brow lift (three to five short hairline incisions with a camera), the latter often under local anesthetic with mild sedation (source).
Gallery: the blepharoplasty gallery shows 10 before-and-after patient cases, two of them combined with brow lift; cases are not labeled by surgeon (blepharoplasty gallery).
Other procedures
The practice lists chin, ear and nose surgery, facelift, arm and thigh lift, liposuction, tummy tuck, breast augmentation, lift, reduction, revision and reconstruction, hand surgery, burn and wound care, scar revision, skin cancer reconstruction, and non-surgical BOTOX, fillers, lasers and peels (eliteplasticsurgerygr.com).
Insurance and cost
- Eyelid surgery "might be covered by insurance if performed to correct functional issues, such as vision impairment caused by drooping eyelids." Purely cosmetic surgery is typically not covered; the office can help determine whether a case qualifies (source).
- The site publishes no eyelid surgery price and links to financing options (source).
Recovery
- Stitches that are not self-absorbing are removed in about a week.
- Most people return to normal activities 7-10 days after blepharoplasty.
- Most bruising and swelling resolves by two weeks; cool compresses reduce both.
- Final results may take several months; incision scars may take six months or longer to fade.
- Brow lift: most patients return to work within 10 days, with heavy lifting and vigorous exercise after about one month (source).