Incision-based Blepharoplasty with Preservation of Superficial and Deep Blood Vessels.

BACKGROUND: Single eyelids of many individuals seek incision-based blepharoplasty to construct double eyelids. However, excessive tissue damage is still a common problem after this surgery. Much of the tissue injury incurred during blepharoplasty results from damage to vertical blood vessels in the superficial and deep layers, so we designed a new modified incisional-based blepharoplasty method that preserves superficial and deep blood vessels. PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of this preservation of superficial and deep blood vessels approach to incisional-based blepharoplasty. METHODS: We retrospectively examined the outcomes of 462 consecutive patients receiving this new method from January 2015 to December 2019. The surgical methods were designed to preserve superficial and deep blood vessels to the greatest extent possible. All patients were followed up for 6 to 40 months. Postoperative evaluations were performed and patients graded results at final follow-up as excellent, good, fair, or poor. The combined proportion of excellent, good, and fair was deemed the satisfaction rate. RESULTS: The overall satisfaction rate was 94.16% (435/462). Postoperative swelling regressed significantly during the first week and disappeared by 4 weeks postsurgery for patients without ptosis or with mild ptosis, whereas swelling regressed in 2 to 5 weeks for patients with moderate ptosis. Fourteen patients (3.03%, 14/462) displayed obvious bruising after surgery. CONCLUSIONS: This new blepharoplasty method yielded a high satisfaction rate, rapid dissipation of swelling, low bruising, and low complication rate. This effective and safe surgical method warrants wider use for single eyelid and mild/moderate ptosis.

Diet and health changes at the end of the Chinese neolithic: the Yangshao/Longshan transition in Shaanxi province.

In this paper we discuss diet and health changes of millet agriculturists in Northern China, Shaanxi province, during the period 7,000-4,000 BP. An episode of intensive climatic oscillations that preceded the onset of colder climate circa the fifth millennium BP divides the period (Shi et al. [1993] Global Planet. Change 7:219-233). The onset of the cooler climate marks the decline of the egalitarian society of Yangshao and the rise of the chiefdom-like society of Longshan. Skeletal materials from the two sites of Beiliu and Jiangzhai are from the earlier phases of Yangshao culture (7,000-6,000 BP), while remains from the Shijia site were excavated from the terminal phase of Yangshao culture (6,000-5,000 BP), a phase that would be expected to show adjustments to strong climatic fluctuations. Human remains from the Longshan culture (5,000-4,000, BP) were found at the Kangjia site. In order to investigate whether the trajectory of diet and health changes persisted beyond the Longshan, a skeletal sample from the Xicun site of the Western Zhao Dynastic period (3,800-2,200 BP) is included in our analyses. All Yangshao sites in our study are characterized by low frequencies of anemia and carious lesions. Some subsistence changes probably occurred during the later phase of Yangshao culture that resulted in elevated masticatory stress and occlusal macrowear among the Shijia people. However, deterioration of community health did not begin until the Longshan, when increased occurrence of porotic hyperostosis and caries is accompanied by decreased adult stature. The transition to softer, more extensively processed food during Longshan is evident in decreased rates of occlusal wear. Increased population density and diminished food values were most likely responsible for these changes. Poor health persisted into the subsequent Dynastic period of Western Zhao.