{"id":1948,"date":"2026-10-20T08:53:34","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T08:53:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/laseristanbulclinic.com\/eye-health\/eyelids\/fox-eye-and-almond-eye-surgery-risks\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T12:59:02","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T12:59:02","slug":"fox-eye-and-almond-eye-surgery-risks","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/laseristanbulclinic.com\/en\/eye-health\/eyelids\/fox-eye-and-almond-eye-surgery-risks\/","title":{"rendered":"Fox eye and almond eye surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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  1. Home: eye surgery in Istanbul<\/a><\/li>
  2. Knowledge centre<\/a><\/li>
  3. Eyelid & cosmetic guides<\/a><\/li>
  4. Fox eye and almond eye surgery<\/span><\/li><\/ol><\/div>\t\t\t

    Fox Eye and Almond Eye Surgery: What Is Real and What Is Risky<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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    \"Eyelid<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

    Fox eye surgery is not a single operation. The fox eye look, an outer eye corner that sits higher than the inner corner, can be pursued with makeup, temporary threads, brow or upper-eyelid surgery, or lateral canthoplasty, which permanently moves the outer corner and carries the highest risk. An eyelid surgeon such as Prof. Dr. Ahmet Sat\u0131c\u0131 examines the eye first and tells you what is realistic.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div><\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n\n

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    What is the fox eye look, and what gives you fox eyes?<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t

    The fox eye look is a lifted, elongated, almond-shaped eye in which the outer corner sits higher than the inner corner. It is a beauty term from social media, not a medical diagnosis, and “fox eyes”, “foxy eye” and “almond eye” all describe the same family of shapes. Clinicians describe the key feature as lateral canthal tilt<\/strong>: the angle between the inner and outer corners of the eye (the canthi). A more upward tilt reads as a “fox” look.<\/p>\n

    Several features combine to create fox eye looks, and only some of them can be changed by a surgeon:<\/p>

    Feature<\/th>What it does to the fox eye shape<\/th>Can a procedure change it?<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
    Lateral canthal tilt (angle of the outer corner)<\/th>The main driver of the look<\/td>Yes, but only with canthal surgery or, temporarily, with threads<\/td><\/tr>
    Tail of the eyebrow<\/th>A lifted brow tail makes the outer eye look higher<\/td>Yes: brow lift, threads or injections<\/td><\/tr>
    Skin over the outer upper lid (lateral hooding)<\/th>Hanging skin hides the outer lid and makes the eye look shorter and heavier<\/td>Yes: upper blepharoplasty<\/td><\/tr>
    Length of the eye opening<\/th>A longer eye looks more almond-shaped<\/td>Only by lateral canthoplasty (permanent, higher risk)<\/td><\/tr>
    Cheekbone and orbital bone shape, ethnicity, sex<\/th>Sets the baseline shape of your eye<\/td>No: eyelid surgery cannot change bone structure<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div>

    Age matters too. In a 2023 study of 68 younger and 73 older Caucasian adults (Liu et al.), the outer corner of the eye tended to move towards the nose and downwards with age. That is one reason a lifted outer corner looks youthful, and one reason people ask for it.<\/p>\n

    No human face follows one fox eye template. The shape of your eyes depends on your anatomy, and what looks natural on one face can look strange on another.<\/p><\/div>\t<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n\n\n

    Fox eye trend: why is everyone asking about it?<\/h2><\/div>

    The fox eye trend spreads through short videos and filters, and the information in them is often poor. In a 2024 study in International Ophthalmology<\/em>, researchers scored 173 YouTube videos about aesthetic canthoplasty: the quality and reliability scores were mostly poor, 82.1% of the videos were uploaded by healthcare professionals, and 46.2% were advertisements rather than scientific or educational content.<\/p>\n

    Patients are also left with high expectations. A 2026 analysis of 1,579 posts and 3,576 comments from eight Reddit communities discussing eyelid surgery (Bair et al., Aesthetic Surgery Journal Open Forum<\/em>) found recurring themes of pre-operative anxiety, dissatisfaction despite an acceptable result, distress over mild asymmetry and choosing a surgeon because of social media. The authors suggest that clear counselling on asymmetry and variability helps set realistic expectations.<\/p>\n

    What this means for you:<\/strong> a before-and-after photo cannot show you what happens to the eye over time. Ask about function (blinking, tear film, lid position) as well as looks.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n\n\n

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    What is fox eye surgery, and which options are real?<\/h2>\n\t\t\t

    “Fox eye surgery” is an umbrella term for several different approaches, from reversible and low risk to permanent and high risk. Fox eyes lift surgery, foxy eyes lift and “fox eye lift” in clinic marketing can mean any of the options below.<\/p>\n\t\t\t

    Option<\/th>What it does<\/th>How long it lasts<\/th>Main risks<\/th>Level of risk (our summary)<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
    Makeup and brow shaping<\/th>Draws the eye outward and upward<\/td>Hours to days<\/td>Skin irritation<\/td>Very low<\/td><\/tr>
    Upper blepharoplasty (removing excess skin)<\/th>Removes hanging skin over the outer upper lid so the eye looks more open<\/td>Long-term (ageing continues)<\/td>Bruising, swelling, dry eye, asymmetry; rare bleeding behind the eye (NHS, AAO)<\/td>Low to moderate<\/td><\/tr>
    Threads to lift the brow tail and outer corner<\/th>Lifts tissue with barbed threads under the skin<\/td>Temporary: months, not years<\/td>Infection, thread migration or extrusion, dimpling, asymmetry (IADVL review, 2026)<\/td>Moderate<\/td><\/tr>
    Botulinum toxin or filler around the eye<\/th>Relaxes or adds volume to reshape the brow and outer eye<\/td>Temporary<\/td>Droopy lid, dry eye, double vision; very rarely, vision loss with filler<\/td>Moderate to high near the eye<\/td><\/tr>
    Lateral canthopexy or canthoplasty<\/th>Repositions or reshapes the outer eye corner and its supporting tendon<\/td>Permanent<\/td>Lid retraction, rounding of the corner, ectropion, dry eye, asymmetry; may need further surgery<\/td>Highest<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div>

    Of these, upper blepharoplasty is the best established. The NHS describes it as surgery that removes excess skin from drooping upper eyelids, and the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) notes that it can restore the upper part of your field of vision when skin hangs over the lashes. It is a way to open a heavy outer lid, but it does not move the outer corner of the eye itself.<\/p>

    Eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty) in Turkey <\/svg><\/a><\/div><\/div>\t<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n\n\n
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    \"Close-up<\/div><\/div>\n\t\t
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    Do fox eye threads work, and how long do they last?<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

    Fox eye threads can lift the outer corner of the eye by a small amount for a limited time, so the effect is real but modest. The best published data we found is a 2026 retrospective study in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Global Open<\/em> of 22 Asian women who had barbed threads placed in the temple area (Hong et al.). The average lateral canthal tilt rose from 2.1 degrees to 4.3 degrees at 6 months, then eased back to 3.6 degrees at 12 months. The outer corner moved up by about 1.8 mm at 6 months and 1.2 mm at 12 months. Of the patients, 90.9% rated their result “improved” or better at 6 months, falling to 77.8% at 12 months. The authors report that adverse events were minor and temporary, and say that prospective comparative studies are needed.<\/p>\n

    So, in that study, the visible gain was a couple of degrees and a couple of millimetres, and it faded within a year. It was also a small, uncontrolled study of one technique in one group of patients, so your result could be different.<\/p>\n

    Thread lifts in general carry their own risks. A 2026 narrative review by the Indian Association of Dermatologists, Venereologists and Leprologists (IADVL) lists infection, thread extrusion, skin dimpling and nerve injury among them. Threads can also migrate if they are not firmly anchored, and the review notes that excessive movement or facial massage can make that more likely.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n\n\n

    What is lateral canthoplasty, and why is it the risky one?<\/h2><\/div>

    Lateral canthoplasty is surgery on the outer corner of the eye in which the surgeon reshapes the corner and re-attaches the tendon that supports the eyelids, so it changes the shape of the eye permanently. A related, gentler procedure called canthopexy repositions the tendon without cutting the corner of the eye. Both are real, established operations in eye surgery: EyeWiki (the AAO’s clinical encyclopedia) says that significant lower-lid laxity is managed with canthopexy or lateral canthoplasty to support the lid.<\/p>\n

    For fox eye, the operation is used for a different reason: to alter the look of a healthy eye. A 2025 report in Aesthetic Surgery Journal<\/em> describes a lateral canthoplasty technique used in East Asia to lengthen the eye opening. The authors reviewed patients operated on between February 2018 and February 2023 and report natural-looking results and no severe complications at 6 months. That was a single-centre review with short follow-up, and it does not tell you the risk in a different eye, in a different surgeon’s hands or after many years.<\/p>\n

    The reason this operation needs caution is that the outer corner holds the lids in position against the eye. EyeWiki and the AAO list problems of lid position after lower-lid surgery, including:<\/p>\n