Very close-set eyes can distract people from your other features. So, is there a surgery you can get to make your eyes be further apart?
Usually, major craniofacial surgery can make your eyes sit further apart. However, surgery is often only an option for people with extremely close-set eyes from a congenital anomaly. Most surgeons will not perform surgery if you are healthy and have slightly close-set eyes.
What Causes Close Set Eyes?
Genetics is a common cause of close-set eyes. However, some conditions and development malformations can cause close-set eyes. Some conditions may only cause mildly close-set eyes, while others can be very severe.
Hypotelorism
This term refers to when there is too much distance between two organs. However, many authors and doctors use this term interchangably with orbital hypotelorism.
If you have this, it means the eyes have an abnormal decrease in the distance between the two eyes, making them look to close to each other.
Orbital hypotelorism is a congenital malformation. It is usually associated with craniosynostosis, encephalocele, etc.
Nonsyndromic Holoprosencephaly
This is a brain abnormality that can affect the face and head. During early development, the brain usually separates into two halves.
However, this condition occurs when the brain doesn’t correctly divide into the left and right hemispheres.
There are four types, which vary in severity: alobar, semi-lobar, lobar, and middle interhemispheric variant. In less severe cases, babies often have close-set eyes (the term mentioned above), and the brain got partially divided.
Most people born with this condition have a narrow head at their temples, and the outside corners of the eyes slant upwards. Though the eyes are already too close together, the narrowed head and slanted eyes can emphasize how close the eyes are to each other.
The condition can also cause many other issues, such as intellectual disability and developmental delay.
Trigonocephaly
This is a congenital condition where the forehead fuses too early, creating a triangular forehead. The forehead’s shape can often lead to parallel growth restriction and transverse growth restriction, including close-set eyes.
What Surgery Can I Get to Make My Eyes Be Further Apart?
Craniofacial surgery can fix close-set eyes (do Amaral et al., 1987). It can also fix wide-set eyes. Typically, it is only an option for people with major skull deformities.
A doctor will use a different approach depending on the patient’s case. However, most doctors focus on moving the orbital bones to a new position to decrease space between your eyes.
How to Get the Surgery
While craniofacial surgery can make your eyes wide-set, most doctors will not want to perform it. If it is for purely cosmetic reasons and the distance between your eyes is not that close, a doctor might deny you.
Most doctors may only offer major surgery to people with conditions like those mentioned above to space out the eyes or for trauma victims. You can consult a surgeon to see if they would allow you to get surgery, but again they most likely will say no.
Most people will need to have major surgery to create more room between their eyes if needed. A doctor has to move your eyeballs and bones to a new position, which is a tricky procedure.
Therefore, to reposition your eyes, surgeons will have to do a LeFort surgery to move the majority of your midface (as they may have to move or work in your cheekbone arcs). That is why most doctors will prefer doing this procedure for patients with moderate to severe hypotelorism.
Therefore, if you do not have a condition like the ones mentioned above, you may not be a candidate for surgery. If your eyes are only a bit close to each other, most doctors may not want to put you at risk for aesthetic reasons.
You’re looking at serious complications such as permanent numbness, loss of muscle function, and even death when you undergo craniofacial surgery. Though the risks are minimal with an experienced surgeon, they’re still too high for someone with normal craniofacial development.
Other Ways to Make My Eyes Look Further Apart
Since surgery is not an option for healthy people with close-set eyes, you can try these alternatives.
Reshape the Eyes
You can get canthoplasty to change the shape of your eye and blepharoplasty to work on your eyelids.
You may want to create a horizontally longer eye shape, rather than a rounder and larger one. Longer eyes can help create the illusion of more distance. However, rounder and wide eyes can make them look closer together.
You can speak to a plastic surgeon to learn what eye shape will help you add more distance between the eyes.
Rhinoplasty
If your nose is too wide or large, it decreases the space between your eyes. Therefore, you can get a nose job to create an illusion of more wide-set eyes.
Ideally, you will want to get a smaller and slimmer nose. It would be best to consult a plastic surgeon to see if this method will work for you.
Get Arched Eyebrows
Depending on your face shape or how you arch your eyebrows, styling your eyebrows can help you. Arched eyebrows help extend the eye shape outwards, creating wider looking eyes.
You can also extend the length of your arched eyebrows. A longer tail can help extend your eyes.
You can do this by grooming your eyebrows or using makeup. Some people may use tattoo ink on their eyebrows by a professional to permanently fill them with color. However, tattoo ink may not look good if you have thin, sparse eyebrows.
