Plastic operations about the eyelids are necessitated by and for:
I. Direct injury causing the loss of a part, one or both lids.
II. Loss of tissue following excision of tumor.
III. Loss of tissue, the result of gangrene or ulceration.
IV. Injuries due to burn or acid wounds.
V. The healing and cicatrization following lupus.
VI. The cicatrization following inflammatory lesions of the orbital borders, especially those of the supra-orbital ridge. Since the upper lid lies below the supra-orbital ridge, the above cause is rarely met with.
VII. For the removal of redundant tissue.
The result of the above causes leads to eversion of the lid (ectropion). There may be cicatricial contraction of the conjunctiva leading to ectropion, however, but its correction is not strictly of a plastic nature and belongs principally to the oculist surgeon, and will therefore not be referred to herein.