Eyelid, tear duct and orbital surgery explained by a consultant oculoplastic surgeon in Malaysia. https://drcatherinechow.com/feed.xml 2026-09-14T00:00:00+08:00 Dr Catherine Chow https://drcatherinechow.com/journal/floppy-eyelid-syndrome-and-sleep/ 2026-09-14T00:00:00+08:00 2026-09-14T00:00:00+08:00

A red, sticky eye that never quite clears on antibiotic drops often has its answer in how loosely the upper lid moves, not in the eye itself.

Dr Catherine Chow https://drcatherinechow.com/journal/blepharospasm-in-adults-uncontrollable-eyelid-spasm/ 2026-09-14T00:00:00+08:00 2026-09-14T00:00:00+08:00

People tell me their eyelids simply will not stay open, and that they have been told it is stress, dry eye, or nothing at all. Often it is a real condition with a name, and a treatment that helps many people.

Dr Catherine Chow https://drcatherinechow.com/journal/orbital-decompression-what-it-does/ 2026-09-14T00:00:00+08:00 2026-09-14T00:00:00+08:00

Almost every week someone asks me whether this operation will give them their old face back. The honest answer takes longer than a yes or a no.

Dr Catherine Chow https://drcatherinechow.com/journal/orbital-fracture-after-a-knock-to-the-eye/ 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00

By the time most people reach my clinic after a knock to the eye, the scan has already come back looking reassuring. That is exactly the point where the real assessment should begin, not end.

Dr Catherine Chow https://drcatherinechow.com/journal/droopy-eyelid-neurological-causes-third-nerve-palsy/ 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00

A lid that has slipped over ten years and a lid that dropped this week are two different problems. This is the second kind, and the signs that turn a droopy eyelid into a same-day trip to hospital.

Dr Catherine Chow https://drcatherinechow.com/journal/eyelid-ptosis-causes-not-ageing-acquired-vs-involutional/ 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00

Ptosis is a sign, not a diagnosis. The commonest adult cause is a stretched tendon rather than a tired muscle, and the handful of causes that are not ageing at all are the ones worth proving before anyone operates.

Dr Catherine Chow https://drcatherinechow.com/journal/upper-blepharoplasty-recovery-week-by-week/ 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00

Patients rarely ask whether the surgery will work. They ask what week two will actually feel like. Here is the honest range, not a single tidy number.

Dr Catherine Chow https://drcatherinechow.com/journal/is-this-ageing-or-something-wrong-the-eyelid-question/ 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00

Almost everyone who sits down to talk about a tired-looking eyelid is really asking one unspoken question. Here is how I actually answer it, and what I check before any cosmetic conversation begins.

Dr Catherine Chow https://drcatherinechow.com/journal/thyroid-eye-disease-why-one-eye-looks-different/ 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00

Almost every week someone shows me a photograph from two years ago and asks which eye has changed. In thyroid eye disease the two sides are hardly ever equal, and that lopsidedness is worth reading properly.

Dr Catherine Chow https://drcatherinechow.com/journal/xanthelasma-yellow-eyelid-deposits/ 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00

Most people who come to me about xanthelasma want it gone before a wedding. I always want the same conversation first, because the patch is a skin finding with a body attached to it.

Dr Catherine Chow https://drcatherinechow.com/journal/dry-eyes-after-fifty-eyelid-margin-cause/ 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00

A patient in her fifties tells me she has never had dry eyes before, and now cannot get through a day without drops that barely help. Almost always, the real story is happening at the eyelid margin, not in the bottle.

Dr Catherine Chow https://drcatherinechow.com/journal/dcr-surgery-what-happens-and-recovery/ 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00

Once a tear duct is truly blocked, drops and patience stop working, and the conversation turns to surgery. Here is what DCR actually involves, in the words I use in clinic rather than the ones on a consent form.

Dr Catherine Chow https://drcatherinechow.com/journal/punctal-stenosis-small-opening-watery-eye/ 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00

The opening that drains your tears is smaller than a millimetre, and when it narrows, everything downstream still works perfectly and the eye still waters constantly. Punctal stenosis is one of the more overlooked causes of a persistently watery eye, and one of the easier ones to actually do something about.

Dr Catherine Chow https://drcatherinechow.com/journal/dacryocystitis-blocked-tear-duct-infection/ 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00

A watery eye is a nuisance. A red, swollen, painful lump beside the nose is something else. Dacryocystitis is what happens when a tear duct that has been quietly blocked for a while finally becomes infected, and it is one of the few tear duct problems I ask patients to act on the same day.

Dr Catherine Chow https://drcatherinechow.com/journal/watery-eyes-adults-too-many-tears-or-poor-drainage/ 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00

Almost every week a patient sits down and says the same thing: my eye keeps watering and I don't know why. The honest answer starts with a question most people have never been asked: is your eye making too many tears, or failing to drain the ones it makes?

Dr Catherine Chow https://drcatherinechow.com/journal/blepharitis-lid-margin-disease-sore-crusty-lids/ 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00

Blepharitis is the condition patients are most often told is nothing serious and least often told how to manage. It is a long-term inflammation of the lid margin, and the difference between misery and comfort is usually technique, not a new prescription.

Dr Catherine Chow https://drcatherinechow.com/journal/thyroid-eye-disease-steroids-disease-activity-control/ 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00

Patients tell me the steroids did not work. Usually they worked exactly as intended, and nobody explained what they were aimed at in the first place.

Dr Catherine Chow https://drcatherinechow.com/journal/thyroid-eye-disease-corneal-exposure-eyes-that-will-not-close/ 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00 2026-09-10T00:00:00+08:00

Almost every week someone tells me their thyroid eyes look worse. What I check first is something they have not thought about: whether the lids still meet when they close.

Dr Catherine Chow https://drcatherinechow.com/journal/dry-eye-after-eyelid-surgery/ 2026-09-09T00:00:00+08:00 2026-09-09T00:00:00+08:00

Almost every patient asks me about it before surgery, and almost every patient feels it afterwards for a while. Dry eye after blepharoplasty is neither a secret nor a certainty, and the difference comes down to what happens at assessment, before any incision is made.

Dr Catherine Chow https://drcatherinechow.com/journal/orbital-dermoid-cyst-adults-surgery/ 2026-09-09T00:00:00+08:00 2026-09-09T00:00:00+08:00

Almost every adult who finds this lump tells me the same thing: it has always been there, they just never asked about it. Here is what an orbital dermoid cyst actually is, and how I decide whether to leave it alone or take it out.

Dr Catherine Chow