Blepharoplasty

• Blepharoplasty is a cosmetic or plastic surgery in which the excess muscle and fat deposits in the eyelids are removed in order to give the skin a tighter, more youthful look. This requires that the skin of the eyelid be cut away and resewn back into place. However, the surgery cannot be completed as it might be if the patient has certain complications. If there is excessive looseness in the upper lid or the eye is particularly large or set forward in relation to the upper portion of the cheekbone, a full removal of the skin of the eyelid may not be possible. In these cases, the surgeon is not fully able to cauterize the veins over the eyelid, and they can become engorged due to trauma for months, if not years, after the surgery's completion.
  
  

Otoplasty

• Otoplasty is a cosmetic surgery of the ears. More specifically, it addresses those portions of cartilage and skin that extend from the sides of the head called the pinnas. As there are few veins on the pinnas themselves, normally their resculpting is not an issue. However, a form of otoplasty commonly known as "ear pinning" is designed to pull the pinnas closer to the sides of the head so as to keep them from sticking out. This requires that stiches be placed into the muscle behind the ears and connected through the skin to the back of the pinna. The posterior auricular vein, which runs behind each ear and eventually merges with the exterior jugular, has been known to get caught by these sutures and pulled up to the surface of the skin, showing it plainly.
  
  

Rhytidectomy

• Rhytidectomies are more commonly known as "facelifts." They involve making incisions behind the hairline and then suturing them back up to tighten the folds of the face. There are two ways that facelifts can cause veins to show. The first is a result of trauma to the blood vessels along the hairline, producing small purple, red and blue lines known as "spider veins." Often a second surgery is required to remove these. The second result is when a surgeon also siphons out fatty tissues around the cheeks to make them seem less puffy. The anterior facial veins that branch across the cheeks from the jawline become visible when surgeons remove too much fatty tissue. Essentially these veins have nowhere to hide, and so they press against the skin.