Anatomy of lower eyelid and eyelid–cheek junction

Abstract

Understanding the anatomy of the lower eyelid and the lid-cheek junction is important for surgical and non-surgical approaches. It is important to understand the correlation between the clinical presentation and the individual anatomy to direct an adequate treatment. A review of the literature based on the authors experience combined with anatomical dissections was conducted to reveal the current concepts of the surgical and non-surgical anatomy. The various anatomical structures important for the understanding of the symptoms and the proposed treatment are described in this article. The anatomy of the lower eyelid and the lid-cheek junction has to be understood as a unit. Structures are continuous from the eyelid to the cheek influencing each other during aging. The concept of superficial, i.e. superficial to the orbicularis oculi muscle and deep facial fat compartments, i.e. deep to the orbicularis oculi muscle has to be applied in order to understand the relevant anatomy regarding the ligaments, fat compartments, muscular and tarsal structures and the vascularization. The understanding of the layered arrangement of the lower eyelid and eyelid-cheek junction anatomy enables practitioners to perform safe and effective surgical and non-surgical procedures.