Media Feature

May 26 | Media Feature in The Telegraph

Dr Elizabeth Hawkes

Dr Elizabeth Hawkes

May 29, 2026

Silhouette of a woman seen from behind in a darkened doorway, illustrating a Telegraph investigation into backstreet cosmetic surgery

Expert Insights from Dr Elizabeth Hawkes

“I hate when people downplay blepharoplasty, because it’s so technically precise. A millimetre out of sync will have consequences. You may not notice it straight away, but long-term, it will have an effect on your eyesight and your vision,” says Dr Elizabeth Hawkes, an ocular plastic surgeon who has spent 16 years training specifically to perform blepharoplasties.

“This is a sub-brow blepharoplasty. It’s mainly a technique that’s come from Korea, and it usually works well on Asian eyes. But it’s less precise [than traditional blepharoplasty], and eyebrow skin is thicker than eyelid skin, so the scar doesn’t heal as well and can be more obvious.”

Hawkes cautions against trivialising the complex surgery as little more than “just snipping that extra bit of skin off”.

“[This surgery] was first described around the 18th century,” explains Dr Hawkes. “They used to get a guillotine clamp and cut the skin. This shocking stuff on TikTok – it’s just blepharoplasty from the Dark Ages.”

NLA licensed copy. No further copies may be made except under licence. This article originally appeared in The Telegraph on May 29, 2026, written by LA Robinson.

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