I have bulgy eyes! Why do my eyes look so protruded? What treatment option is there for my bulgy eyes?

Do you have bulgy eyes? You are not alone. There are so many people suffering from problems with eye protrusion that protruded eye surgery, once considered a dangerous procedure and only used in emergency situations, is now sought for cosmetic reasons. Without getting into too much medical jargon, let's take a look at what causes eyes to bulge, and then take a look at the medical procedure used to correct the problem.

When eyes protrude awkwardly outside of the head, the main reason will always be due to lack of space behind the eye in the eye socket. A crowded eye socket causes the eyeball to protrude forward. There are many medical factors that cause an eye socket to be "crowded". The one we address here is when the bones making up the inner wall of the orbital room (eye socket) is convex.

A convex inner orbital wall makes for less room for the eye to sit properly. Eyeball protrusion is an unavoidable result. What we here at EFIL do in this case, is osteotomize some of the orbital bone to expand the orbital room and make more room for the eyeball. Dr. Peter Kim of EFIL Plastic Surgery Clinic gives an overview of the explanation in this YouTube video. If you are interested, we encourage you to click on it and taking a look.

If you have any other questions or concerns regarding bulging eyes, surgery for bulging eyes, or info on plastic surgery in general please visit us by clicking the link below.

EFIL Plastic Surgery

We look forward to hearing from you.

EFIL Staff

Wearing glasses causes eye bulginess in childhood? Is that true? What is the relationship between glasses and eye protrusion?

There are rumors that wearing glasses early in childhood can cause eye bulginess later on. There does seem to a disproportionate number of "bulgy" eyes in those that regularly wore glasses in childhood versus those that did not. The problem here deserves a closer look.

What is eye bulginess? Eyes can naturally bulge due to a lack of space in the eye socket. This can be congenital, or it can develop. There are a number of different conditions (e.g. thyroid dysfunction) , habits (e.g. sporadic breath holding), factors (e.g. hereditary shallow eye sockets) that can directly or indirectly cause eyes to bulge. When this happens, the eyes end up being pushed from their intended position to a new, more uncomfortable one.

Imagine slightly protruding eye balls in a growing child. Due to growingly awkward eye positioning, eye sight will undoubtedly be affected. In most cases, glasses are the go-to solution to solve this problem. This is where we can start to see a pattern. First there is eye protrusion, then changes in eye sight come afterwards.

There is little medical evidence to support claims that glasses cause proptosis eye bulginess). However, for reasons explained above, the onset of early proptosis has been proven to negatively affect eye sight. Therefore, the correct way to understand the situation would be that eye protrusion in young eyes worsens eye sight which in turn causes the individual to wear glasses. Glasses do not cause proptosis.

 There are many out there with questions about their eyes and problems concerning them, especially individuals dealing with bulging eyes. We here are EFIL Plastic Surgery are experts in eye protrusion and corrective procedures regarding it.

EFIL Plastic Surgery

Please contact us with any inquiries by clicking on the above link.
We're here for you.



EFIL Staff

Breathing habits can cause early eye protrusion in children?! What really causes bulging eyes?

Everyone knows what bulgy eyes can look like (think Kermit the Frog); however, the reasons behind eye bulge are not as commonly understood. We would like to address of few of them.

Bulgy eyes (known medically as exophthalmos or proptosis) can be congenital, something present since birth, it be can develop as a result of thyroid dysfunction, eye bulginess can even develop due to habits that affect orbital bone growth in the eyes. First, let's discuss the more widely understood causes: the first two causes mentioned, congenital eye bulginess and thyroid dysfunction-related eye bulginess.

Congenital eye protrusion is due to what doctor's call a "shallow orbit". The word "orbit" refers to the eye socket. When that space is too shallow to accommodate the eye properly, the eyeball protrudes. 

Eye bulginess that occurs as a result of thyroid dysfunction is more serious. The thyroid gland produces hormones. When there is an overproduction of thyroid hormones, reactions in the tissue around the eyes can occur causing the tissue to swell. This swelling of tissue causes pressure behind the eye to increase inevitably pushing the eyes forward and causing them to protrude.

        (the ethmoid bone, unfortunately blurred, when seen from below)

The last cause, and more interesting one, that we will cover is the development of eye bulginess due to habits in childhood. This involves the ethmoid bone. The ethmoid bone is a bone the separates the brain from the sinus cavity and can be found between the eyes. It makes up the medial wall, or middle portion, of the orbital room (eye socket). It houses a bunch of structures that make up the sinus and is important in allowing respiration through the nose. When growing children habits that causes pressure in the sinus cavity to increase, say sporadically holding one's breath, the ethmoid bone may protrude slightly outward into the orbit. This can limit the space available in the orbital room for the eye to sit comfortably in and, consequentially, result in proptosis (eye protrusion). 

If you are someone suffering from eye protrusion, or what appears to be eye protrusion -- whether you have a naturally shallow orbit, a convex-shaped (outward protruding) ethmoid bone, or thyroid induced eye protrusion -- we here at EFIL can help.

We have more than 10 years of experience in facial contour and corrective eye protrusion surgery. Feel to visit our website at the link below.

EFIL Plastic Surgery Clinic

We're here to help you. Don't hesitate contact us with questions or concerns.

EFIL Staff

Bulgy Eye Surgery - Orbital Decompression VS. Orbital Expansion: What's the difference between these two procedures?

What is bulgy eye surgery? What's different about our bulgy eye surgery? In order to understand what makes EFIL unique, a basic understanding of what bulging eyes are.

Orbital bone is the bone that makes up what is commonly referred to as the eye socket. When the eye socket is shallow, usually a result of congenital factors, due to the lack of sufficient space the eyeball can be forced outward, slightly protruding. This eye protrusion is called many things: bulgy eyes, exophthalmos, proptosis, among others.

Shallow orbits (shallow eye sockets) are not the only cause of eye protrusion. Eye protrusion can also be an indirect result of thyroid disorder.

When problems occur in the thyroid glands, orbital tissue swelling is common. The thyroid glands produce more thyroid hormone than is necessary leading to a condition called thyrotoxicosis. One of the symptoms of thyrotoxicosis is the swelling of tissue in the orbit, pushing the eyes outwards and making the eyes protrude.

Eye protrusion due to congenitally shallow orbits tend to cause relatively mild functional and cosmetic problems. When eye protrusion is a result of thyrotoxicosis, the consequences may be more severe. Swelling behind the eye can cause intraocular pressure (pressure behind the eye) to increase. This not only forces the outwards, but can cause functional problems and negatively affect vision. In extreme cases, high intraocular pressure can damage the optic nerve and cause blindness.

High intraocular pressure can be dangerous. Orbital decompression surgery is one surgical option for dealing with it.  Orbital bone is shaved down, or sometimes broken and cut out, and orbital tissue is removed. This creates space in the orbit in turn lowering intraocular pressure.

The main objective is the lowering of the dangerously high intraocular pressure. For this reason, orbital decompression surgery has been considered an "emergency" operative procedure. As orbital bone is broken, there tends to be a lot of bleeding, and the procedure itself is known to take between 5-6 hours. Because of its invasive nature, unlike other eye surgeries, a week-long stay in the hospital is not unheard of.

When intraocular pressure is not a factor, and the procedure is purely aesthetic, expansion of the space in the orbital room becomes the main purpose. The ethmoid bone (the bone that separates the sinus and the brain) may be convex in shape, and the actual orbital room may be shallow. When this is the case, bone is not cut out, it is cut and simply pushed in. Orbital tissue is likewise removed. Since the tissue is not swollen, the procedure is safer as there are less risk factors, less bleeding and less invasiveness. Since there is less to remove, the procedure is much shorter when compared to orbital decompression, and recovery time is faster.

To sum up the difference between two procedures, orbital decompression surgery is an invasive surgical procedure with the aim of cutting away at orbital bone and swollen orbital tissue for the purpose of lowering dangerously high intraocular pressure.

Orbital expansion surgery removes orbital tissue and pushes orbital bone inwards to expand the orbital room and make room for the eye to be set more appropriately in the eye and improve aesthetic proportion in the face.

We have more than 10 years of experience in facial contour and corrective eye protrusion surgery. Feel to visit our website at the link below.

EFIL Plastic Surgery Clinic

We're here to help you. Don't hesitate contact us with questions or concerns.

EFIL Staff

Why are my eyes bulging?

The medical term for eyeball protrusion is exophthalmos. It can occur in various degrees in different people for a plethora of reasons. Some cases are congenital, as can be seen in people who just naturally have narrow orbital bones (the bones that make up the inner part of the eye socket behind the eyeball), and some cases are a result of sicknesses that stem from thyroid dysfunction.  

What are symptoms of bulging eyes?

When eyes protrude, they tend to give the face a "tired" look. Sometimes, people described as looking overly "intense". When protrusion is more than mild, the efficacy and functionality of the eyelid, as the eye's first line of defense, goes down.  These are enough reasons for some to consider undergoing corrective surgery.

What is bulging eye surgery and how can we here at EFIL help?

The procedure is simple -- widening the orbital room. This is accomplished in two way: the removal of orbital fat (fat behind the eye) and the shaving down of orbital bone. This creates more room for the eye to sit properly in the eye socket.

We here at EFIL have more than 10 years of experience in surgery for correcting exophthalmos (bulgy eyes). We have perfected the procedure so that it is fast and efficient. Quick, efficient execution of the surgery is important for reducing the number of complications that can occur and chances of infection.

If you are considering surgery, please visit us at our website by clicking the link below.

EFILPlastic Surgery

We are looking forward to hearing from you.

10 Years of Experience in Orbital Expansion Surgery

We have more than 10 years of “know-how” and clinic experience in orbital expansion surgery.

If you feel that your eyes are bulging abnormally, then the first step should be get your thyroid tested for any abnormalities. When problems occur in the thyroid glands, edema (muscle and tissue swelling) in the eyes is common. These problems can be fixed with hormone medication.

Making sure that you are not suffering from thyroid dysfunction is of the utmost importance. After receiving the “OK” from a doctor, confirming that eye protrusion is not a result of onset thyroid problems, then you can safely consider having orbital expansion surgery (bulgy eye surgery).

If you are interested in orbital expansion surgery or are wondering if the procedure is right for you, please visit our web-page by clicking on our logo below and contact us with your questions.

Techniques have changed; bulgy eye surgery is now possible!

Was there ever a time where you wished you could change something about yourself, but the
technology to do so didn't exist at the time? This guy has.

He has had a complex about his "bulgy" eyes ever since he was young. When he was finally old
enough to go through surgery to correct the bulginess in his eyes, it turned out that the procedure
(bulgy eye surgery, known medically as exophthalmos surgery) was risky and only undergone
when eye protrusion threatened eyesight.

Bulging eyes can occur for different reasons. They are a common result of pressure building up
in the orbital room (eye socket) behind the eye -- normally seen in people with thyroid problems
 -- or can just be due to having narrow eye sockets.

When our patient, the guy in the picture above, came to us at EFIL, it wasn't his first time seeking
surgical correction for his protruding eyes. In more than 30 years of searching, after having had
multiple procedures done in the past, lifting and implanting on other parts of his face to downplay
the bulginess of his eyes, he finally found EFIL. He was pleased to find out that we could properly
place his eyes back into his head the way he always felt they should be. 

If you have bulgy, protruding eyes we here at EFIL can help. For more information, please visit our
webpage at the link below and don't hesitate to leave us a question or comment.

EFIL Plastic Surgery Center

We look forward from hearing from you.

EFIL Staff