Upper or Lower Blepharoplasty: Which Eyelid Surgery Addresses Hooding vs Under-Eye Bags?

She noticed it first in a photo from her nephew’s graduation. Her eyes looked tired in a way she did not feel, and a friend, meaning well, asked if she had slept. Later that week, in the bathroom mirror, she lifted her brow with one finger and watched the fold of skin over her eyelid vanish. Then she let go and pressed gently under the eye, where a soft pouch sat that no amount of cold spoon or extra water had ever shifted.

Two different changes, two different mechanisms, and, as it turns out, two different operations. The question of upper vs lower blepharoplasty is not really “which one is better.” It is “what, precisely, is happening to my eyelids, and which procedure is designed for that.”

This explainer walks through the anatomy behind hooding and under-eye bags, what each surgery involves, who is usually a candidate, what recovery tends to look like, and the honest limits of what any eyelid operation can do.

Upper vs lower blepharoplasty: two procedures for two different problems

Blepharoplasty is the medical name for eyelid surgery, an operation that removes or reshapes excess skin, muscle, or fat around the eye. The word covers two quite separate procedures that happen to share a name, and lumping them together causes most of the confusion people bring to a consultation.

Upper blepharoplasty deals with the lid above the eye. Its target is hooding: skin that has stretched and now drapes over the natural crease, sometimes resting on the lashes. The surgeon works through an incision hidden in that crease and removes a measured strip of skin, occasionally with a sliver of the underlying muscle or a small amount of fat from the inner corner. The aim is to reveal the crease again and, when the fold is heavy enough to matter, to clear the upper edge of vision.

Lower blepharoplasty deals with the lid beneath the eye. Its usual target is the under-eye bag: a pouch created when the fat that cushions the eyeball pushes forward against a weakened membrane. The surgeon either removes some of that fat or moves it downward to fill the hollow that often sits beneath the bag. Loose lower-lid skin can be addressed at the same time, but the fat is usually the main event.

Both operations are commonly performed as outpatient procedures under local anesthesia with sedation, and Mayo Clinic notes that when upper and lower lids are treated together the surgery typically takes under two hours. Beyond that shared framework, the technique, the risks, and the recovery differ enough that a surgeon will assess each lid on its own merits rather than offering a package.

What causes eyelid hooding, and what causes under-eye bags?

Hooding and bags look like the same problem, aging around the eyes, but they arise from different tissues doing different things.

Hooding is mostly a skin story. The eyelid skin is among the thinnest on the body, and with time it loses collagen and elastic fibers, so the same amount of skin now covers less taut tissue and folds over itself. Clinicians call this dermatochalasis, which simply means redundant, lax eyelid skin. Two other changes can masquerade as hooding. The brow itself may have descended, pushing forehead skin down onto the lid, a change called brow ptosis. Or the muscle that lifts the lid may have stretched or slipped, so the lid margin sits lower over the pupil, which is true eyelid ptosis, a drooping of the lid edge rather than a fold of skin above it. Cleveland Clinic describes ptosis as a distinct condition with its own surgical correction, and a surgeon will check for it because removing skin does nothing for a lid that is genuinely drooping.

Under-eye bags are mostly a fat story. Behind the lower lid sit small pads of orbital fat, held in place by a thin sheet of connective tissue called the orbital septum. As that septum weakens, the fat herniates forward and bulges. Beneath the bulge, the cheek fat has often thinned and slid down, leaving a hollow that deepens the shadow. Fluid retention, allergies, salt, sleep, and genetics all change how prominent the pouch looks day to day, which is why some people notice bags in their twenties.

A separate change, festoons or malar bags, sits lower still, on the cheekbone rather than the lid, and involves lax skin and fluid rather than orbital fat. Standard lower blepharoplasty does not reliably address them, and knowing which you have matters before any decision.

How upper blepharoplasty works, step by step

The operation begins before any incision, with a pen. The surgeon marks the natural crease and then a second line above it, the two lines enclosing the strip of skin to be removed. The width of that strip is the entire judgment of the procedure. Take too little and the hood remains; take too much and the eye may struggle to close fully. Surgeons commonly gauge the margin by gently pinching the excess skin with forceps until the lashes just begin to lift, then mark conservatively.

Once local anesthetic and, usually, sedation have taken effect, the incision follows those lines and the skin strip is lifted away. Some surgeons also remove a narrow band of the orbicularis muscle, the ring of muscle that closes the eye, to sharpen the crease. If a puffiness sits at the inner corner, near the nose, a small amount of fat from the medial fat pad may be trimmed through the same opening. Bleeding is controlled and the wound is closed with fine sutures placed so that the scar settles into the crease and is largely concealed when the eye is open.

MedlinePlus notes the procedure typically takes one to three hours depending on how much is done, and Mayo Clinic describes stitches being removed after several days when non-dissolving sutures are used. Most people go home the same day with cold compresses and a list of instructions.

What the surgery does not do is lift the brow or raise a drooping lid margin. If the surgeon finds brow descent or ptosis during the examination, those call for different techniques, sometimes performed in the same sitting, sometimes staged, and that is a conversation to have before consent rather than after.

How lower blepharoplasty works, and why there are two routes in

The lower lid asks a harder question than the upper: how to reach fat that sits behind the lid without leaving a visible scar or pulling the lid margin down. Surgeons answer it with one of two approaches.

The transconjunctival approach goes from the inside. The lower lid is gently everted and a small incision is made in the conjunctiva, the moist pink lining of the inner lid. Through that opening the surgeon reaches the three lower fat pads and either trims them or, increasingly, releases and repositions them over the bony rim to fill the hollow beneath. No skin is cut, so there is no external scar, and because the muscle layer that supports the lid is left intact, the risk of the lid being pulled downward is lower. The trade-off is that loose skin cannot be tightened through this route.

The transcutaneous approach goes from the outside, through an incision placed a millimeter or two beneath the lash line. It gives access to the fat and lets the surgeon remove a conservative strip of skin and tighten the muscle. The scar generally hides well in the lash shadow, but this route disturbs the lid’s support and carries more risk of the lower lid drooping or pulling away from the eye, which is why surgeons often add a supporting stitch at the outer corner, a step called canthopexy, to anchor the lid.

Skin quality often decides the route. Fat with good skin usually points to the inside approach; fat with crepey, redundant skin may point to the outside approach or to combining the inside approach with a skin-only treatment. Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins both describe these choices as ones a surgeon makes after examining lid tone, sometimes by simply pulling the lid down and watching how quickly it snaps back.

Upper vs lower blepharoplasty at a glance

The table below sets the two procedures side by side. Figures are typical ranges reported by the cited sources, not promises for any individual.

Feature	Upper blepharoplasty	Lower blepharoplasty
Main problem treated	Hooding, excess skin over the crease	Under-eye bags from bulging fat, sometimes loose skin
Main tissue addressed	Skin, sometimes muscle and inner-corner fat	Fat pads, sometimes skin and muscle
Incision location	Hidden in the natural upper crease	Inside the lid (no external scar) or just below the lashes
Can improve vision?	Yes, when hooding blocks the upper visual field	No, purely appearance
Swelling and bruising	Typically settles over 10 to 14 days (Mayo Clinic)	Often more prominent; typically settles over 10 to 14 days, with residual puffiness longer
Distinctive risks	Difficulty closing the eye fully, dry eye, asymmetry of creases	Lower lid pulling down or outward, hollowing if too much fat removed
Does not fix	Brow descent, true eyelid ptosis	Festoons, dark pigmentation, fine wrinkles on their own

A few points from that table deserve emphasis. Upper surgery is the only one of the two with a possible functional purpose. Lower surgery has the more delicate margin for error because the lower lid has less structural support and a less forgiving relationship with gravity. And neither procedure treats the shadow caused by skin pigment, which is why someone whose main concern is darkness rather than a bulge may be steered away from surgery entirely.

Who eyelid surgery is usually for, and who is usually asked to wait

The usual candidate is an adult in good general health whose concern matches what the operation can change. Mayo Clinic frames the options plainly: excess upper-lid skin that interferes with peripheral vision, drooping or baggy upper lids, and bags under the eyes. MedlinePlus adds that most people who have the surgery are age 35 or older, though inherited bags or heavy lids bring some younger people to consultation.

A realistic expectation is part of candidacy too. Surgeons look for people who can describe what bothers them in specific terms, a fold that touches the lashes, a pouch that casts a shadow, rather than a general wish to look rested, because the former can be examined and the latter cannot.

Several situations commonly lead to a pause or a redirection. Uncontrolled high blood pressure or diabetes raises bleeding and healing risk and is usually stabilized first. Active smoking impairs healing; Mayo Clinic advises stopping several weeks before and after surgery, a timeline the surgical team sets. Dry eye disease deserves careful evaluation because both operations can worsen it, at least temporarily. Thyroid eye disease, glaucoma, a detached retina, or recent eye surgery may all change or defer the plan. Certain blood-thinning medicines and supplements are often adjusted before surgery, but only under the direction of the prescriber who started them.

Two anatomical findings also redirect people. If the examination shows the brow, not the lid, has fallen, an upper blepharoplasty alone may leave the hooding largely in place. If the lower lid is already lax, with a slow snap-back, a surgeon may recommend a support procedure alongside the bag surgery or advise against a skin-removal approach. None of these is a rejection. Each is a way of matching the operation to the problem, and the treating team makes that call.

Is it better to do upper and lower blepharoplasty together?

People ask this in two spirits: as a question of convenience, and as a question of results. The answers differ.

On convenience, combining is common and practical. One anesthetic, one recovery period, one round of time away from work. Mayo Clinic notes the combined operation usually takes less than two hours, and healing from both lids runs on roughly the same clock, so a person does not double their downtime. Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins describe upper and lower surgery being performed in one session as routine when both lids genuinely need treatment.

On results, the honest answer is that combining does not make either procedure work better. Each lid is treated on its own anatomy. What combining can do is address a mismatch: an upper lid that looks freshly opened above a lower lid that still bags can draw the eye to the bag, and vice versa. Some people who treat only one lid later feel the untreated lid has become more noticeable, not because it changed but because the contrast did.

The case for staging is also real. Lower blepharoplasty carries its own specific risks, and some people prefer to see how they heal from the upper lids before committing to the lower. Anyone with borderline lower-lid laxity or significant dry eye may be advised to treat the upper lids first and reassess. A longer combined operation also means a longer period of swelling around both sides of the eye at once, which some find harder in the first week.

The question underneath “is it worth it” is whether both lids have a problem that surgery can fix. If only one does, the second operation adds risk without a corresponding benefit. That is a judgment for a surgeon who has examined you, not a general rule.

What is the best age for blepharoplasty of the upper lid?

There is no best age, and any source that gives one is selling something. Eyelids change on a schedule set by genetics, sun exposure, smoking, and simple time, and two people of the same age can have entirely different lids.

What the evidence does support is a pattern. MedlinePlus reports that most people who undergo the surgery are 35 or older, which reflects when skin laxity typically becomes visible rather than any clinical threshold. People with an inherited tendency toward heavy upper lids, or with a low or absent crease, sometimes present in their late twenties or early thirties. People whose hooding has begun to encroach on the upper field of vision often present later, when the functional effect becomes hard to ignore, and that group may be evaluated for a functional rather than cosmetic procedure.

Age matters less than three other factors. First, skin quality: thinner, more sun-damaged skin heals with more visible fine wrinkling around the incision, whatever the person’s age. Second, the position of the brow: a younger person with a well-supported brow usually gets a clean result from skin removal alone, while an older person whose brow has descended may need the brow addressed to see a difference. Third, general health, since bleeding risk and healing capacity depend far more on blood pressure, diabetes control, and smoking than on the number of birthdays.

Durability enters the calculation too. Mayo Clinic notes that for some people the results may last a lifetime, while for others droopiness can recur. Upper lids treated earlier will continue to age afterward, and a second procedure years later is possible but involves removing skin from an area already operated on, which narrows the margin. That is one reason surgeons tend to be conservative in younger patients rather than eager.

What are the lower blepharoplasty risks people underestimate?

Lower blepharoplasty is the more technically unforgiving of the two, and its downsides are worth stating plainly rather than tucked into a consent form.

The signature risk is a change in the position of the lower lid. If the lid’s support is weakened, particularly through the external skin approach, the lid margin can be pulled downward, exposing more white below the iris, or turn outward away from the eye, a condition called ectropion. Both can cause tearing, irritation, and a rounded, sad-looking eye shape. NHS and Mayo Clinic list eyelids that do not sit or close properly among the recognized complications of eyelid surgery. Mild cases may settle as swelling resolves; persistent cases sometimes need a corrective procedure.

Hollowing is the second risk, and it is the reason surgical fashion has shifted from removing fat toward repositioning it. Take out too much and the bag is replaced by a sunken, skeletal look that ages the eye rather than refreshing it and is difficult to reverse.

Bruising and swelling tend to be more pronounced than after upper surgery because the lower lid drains fluid less efficiently. Mayo Clinic gives a typical ten to fourteen days for swelling and bruising to subside, but residual puffiness in the lower lid can linger past that. Dry eye, blurred vision from ointment, watering, and sensitivity to light are common in the early weeks. Persistent numbness of the lid, visible scarring, and asymmetry between the two sides are less common but real.

The rarest and most serious complication is bleeding behind the eye, which can threaten vision; NHS and Mayo Clinic describe loss of eyesight as a very rare risk. It is the reason surgeons ask about blood thinners and insist on knowing about sudden pain or pressure after surgery.

Finally, lower blepharoplasty does not treat dark pigment, fine wrinkles on their own, or festoons on the cheek. Someone whose main concern is any of those may be disappointed even by a technically flawless operation.

Blepharoplasty recovery time: what the days and weeks usually look like

Recovery from eyelid surgery is less painful than most people fear and more visible than they hope. The ranges below come from Mayo Clinic and the NHS and describe typical courses, not guarantees.

The first two to three days bring the peak of swelling and bruising. The eyes often feel tight and gritty, vision may be blurred by protective ointment, and light sensitivity is common. Cold compresses, head elevation while sleeping, and prescribed or recommended eye lubricants are the mainstays; the surgical team directs their use. Bruising frequently tracks downward into the cheek, which alarms people but is gravity, not a complication.

By the end of the first week, non-dissolving stitches in the upper lids are typically removed; Mayo Clinic describes this as happening after several days and MedlinePlus gives a range of two to seven days. Swelling has usually begun to soften but the lids still look operated on. Mayo Clinic advises avoiding strenuous activity, heavy lifting, and swimming for about a week, and not rubbing the eyes.

Around ten to fourteen days, Mayo Clinic notes that swelling and bruising commonly subside enough for most people to feel comfortable in public, often with sunglasses and, once the incisions have closed and the surgeon agrees, makeup. Both Mayo Clinic and the NHS advise waiting roughly two weeks before wearing contact lenses.

The NHS describes full recovery as taking several weeks. Lower-lid puffiness, tightness when smiling, and a pink line at the incision can persist through the second month. Mayo Clinic notes that scars may take months to fade to their final appearance, and sun protection over the incisions during that period helps prevent them darkening. Judging the final result before three months has passed is usually premature, and surgeons generally ask people to wait before forming an opinion.

Alternatives to eyelid surgery, and what the evidence actually shows

Not every hood or bag needs a scalpel, and a fair explainer owes people the alternatives, along with a clear statement of their limits.

For mild hooding, the honest alternative is often doing nothing or addressing the brow. If a raised brow in the mirror makes the fold disappear, the problem may be brow position, and a surgeon may discuss a brow lift rather than, or alongside, eyelid surgery. Nonsurgical skin-tightening devices that use radiofrequency or ultrasound energy are marketed for eyelid skin; the evidence for meaningful, lasting change in genuinely redundant skin is limited, and results vary widely. They cannot remove skin, only encourage some contraction.

For under-eye bags, the most discussed alternative is injectable filler placed in the hollow beneath the bag to reduce the step between pouch and cheek. Hyaluronic acid fillers, a class of gel injected under the skin, are commonly used for this. They can soften the shadow in people whose main issue is a hollow rather than a large bulge, but they do not remove fat, they are temporary, and the thin skin of the lower lid is prone to visible lumps, bluish discoloration, and swelling. Filler is a poor choice for a prominent fat pad, where it tends to make the area look heavier.

Lifestyle measures matter for the fluid component of bags. Mayo Clinic notes that sleep, allergy management, and limiting salt can reduce puffiness that fluctuates day to day, though they will not change fat that is structurally prolapsed. Topical creams, cold applications, and caffeine-containing products reduce fluid temporarily at most.

Where hooding is affecting vision, waiting has a cost, and surgery is the evidence-based route. Where the concern is cosmetic, the right comparison is not surgery versus alternative but honest expectation versus honest expectation, worked out with a clinician who can tell you which tissue is responsible.

What people often get wrong about eyelid surgery

Eyelid surgery attracts more confident misinformation than almost any aesthetic procedure. Here are the recurring errors, and what the evidence says instead.

“It will make me look surprised or pulled.” That appearance comes from removing too much upper skin or from a lower lid dragged downward. Conservative skin removal and preservation of lid support are the modern norm precisely to avoid it. A surgeon’s job is to leave enough skin for the eye to close and blink comfortably.

“Upper surgery will get rid of my dark circles.” It will not, and neither will lower surgery if the darkness is pigment in the skin. Surgery changes contour, the shadow cast by a bulge or a hollow. It does not change skin color.

“Once it is done, it is done forever.” Mayo Clinic is careful here: results may last a lifetime for some, while for others droopiness recurs. Skin keeps aging after surgery, and brows keep descending. What surgery does is reset the starting point.

“Bags mean I need fat removed.” Sometimes. Often the better answer is to move the fat down to fill the hollow rather than remove it, because hollowing is the complication surgeons now work hardest to avoid.

“It is a minor procedure, so the risks are trivial.” Most people recover uneventfully, but the NHS and Mayo Clinic both list difficulty closing the eye, dry eye, lid malposition, noticeable scarring, asymmetry, and, very rarely, loss of vision. Minor in duration is not the same as minor in stakes.

“A drooping lid is just extra skin.” It may be ptosis, a weakness of the lifting muscle, which needs a different operation. Removing skin from a truly drooping lid does not raise it, and Cleveland Clinic describes ptosis repair as a separate procedure. The examination, not the mirror, tells the two apart.

Questions to ask your care team about upper vs lower blepharoplasty

A good consultation is a two-way examination. The surgeon studies your lids; you study how they think. These questions tend to produce useful answers.

• Looking at my upper lids, how much of what I see is excess skin, how much is brow descent, and is there any true ptosis? What would you recommend for each?
• For my lower lids, do you plan to remove fat, reposition it, or both, and why? Would you go through the inside of the lid or beneath the lashes?
• How is the tone of my lower lid, and do you anticipate needing a supporting stitch at the outer corner?
• Do you recommend treating both lids in one session, or staging them, and what in my anatomy drives that view?
• What kind of anesthesia do you use, and where will the procedure take place?
• What is your plan for my dry eye, if I have it, and how will you check my tear function beforehand?
• Which of my current medicines or supplements need to be discussed with my prescriber before surgery?
• What does recovery typically look like for someone with my skin and lid type, and when would you expect me to feel comfortable in public?
• What complications have you seen with this operation, and how do you manage them if they occur?
• Under what circumstances would you advise against surgery for me, or ask me to wait?
• What follow-up visits are planned, and who do I call, day or night, if something worries me?

Bring the photograph that first made you look twice. It grounds the conversation in what actually bothers you rather than in a general wish to look younger, and it helps the surgeon see whether the change you noticed is one their operation can address.

When to call your doctor after eyelid surgery

Swelling, bruising, tightness, watering, mild blurring from ointment, and a gritty feeling are expected in the first days after either upper or lower blepharoplasty. A short list of signs is not expected, and each calls for a prompt call to the surgical team or, where indicated, emergency care.

Treat the following as urgent, day or night: sudden or worsening pain in or behind the eye; a rapid increase in swelling on one side, especially with a hard or tense feel; the eye bulging forward; any new loss of vision, double vision, or a curtain across part of your sight; or bleeding that does not stop with gentle pressure. Mayo Clinic and the NHS identify these as possible signs of bleeding behind the eye, a rare complication that can threat sight and needs immediate assessment.

Call the same day for: fever, increasing redness or warmth spreading beyond the incision, pus or an unpleasant smell from the wound, a suture that has come loose with the wound gaping, or an inability to close the eye that is getting worse rather than better. Persistent severe dryness, a sensation of something in the eye that does not ease with the lubricants you were given, or a lower lid that appears to be pulling away from the eye should be reported at the next opportunity rather than waited out.

Chest pain, calf pain, shortness of breath, or a racing heart after any surgery need emergency evaluation regardless of the operation.

Keep the after-hours number your team gave you somewhere you can find it with blurred vision, and do not hesitate to use it. Surgical teams would far rather hear about a false alarm at midnight than about a real problem the next afternoon. Every decision about what to do next belongs with the team who performed your surgery.

Frequently asked questions

Is it better to do upper and lower blepharoplasty together?

Combining is common when both lids genuinely need treatment, because it means one anesthetic and one recovery rather than two. It does not improve the result of either operation on its own. Surgeons sometimes advise staging for people with borderline lower-lid laxity or significant dry eye, treating the upper lids first and reassessing. If only one lid has a problem surgery can fix, adding the other adds risk without benefit.

Is an upper and lower bleph worth it?

It depends entirely on whether the change that bothers you is one the operation can alter. Surgery reshapes contour, meaning excess skin and displaced fat. It does not lighten pigment or erase fine lines by itself. People who can point to a specific fold or bulge, and who accept typical recovery and the listed risks, tend to be the ones for whom the question of value has a clear answer. A surgeon who examines you can say which category you fall into.

What is the best age for blepharoplasty?

There is no best age. MedlinePlus reports most people having the surgery are 35 or older, which simply reflects when lid skin laxity usually becomes visible. Inherited heavy lids bring some people in their late twenties; hooding that blocks vision brings others much later. Skin quality, brow position, and control of blood pressure, diabetes, and smoking influence outcomes far more than age itself, and surgeons tend to be more conservative with younger patients.

What are the cons of lower blepharoplasty?

The main downsides are the risk of the lower lid being pulled downward or turning outward, hollowing if too much fat is removed, more prolonged swelling than after upper surgery, and early dry or watery eyes. It does not treat dark pigment or cheek festoons. Very rarely, bleeding behind the eye can threaten vision, which is why sudden pain or pressure after surgery needs immediate attention.

How long is blepharoplasty recovery time?

Mayo Clinic describes swelling and bruising typically subsiding within 10 to 14 days, with non-dissolving stitches removed after several days and contact lenses avoided for about two weeks. The NHS describes full recovery taking several weeks, and Mayo Clinic notes scars may take months to fade. Lower-lid puffiness can linger beyond the upper lid. Most surgeons ask people to wait at least three months before judging the final appearance.

Does upper blepharoplasty get rid of hooded eyes permanently?

It resets the starting point but does not stop aging. Mayo Clinic notes results may last a lifetime for some people while droopiness recurs for others. Skin continues to lose elasticity and brows continue to descend after surgery. A repeat procedure years later is possible, but removing skin from an area already operated on leaves less margin, which is one reason surgeons remove conservatively the first time.

Can lower blepharoplasty fix dark circles?

Only the part of the darkness caused by shadow. If a bulging fat pad casts a shadow into a hollow beneath it, removing or repositioning that fat can reduce the shadow. If the darkness is pigment in the skin, thin skin showing underlying blood vessels, or fluid that comes and goes, surgery will not change it. A surgeon can usually distinguish the causes by examining the skin in different lighting and by gently pressing on the area.

What is the difference between ptosis and hooding?

Hooding is excess skin folding over the upper lid crease; the lid margin itself sits in the normal position. Ptosis is the lid margin drooping lower over the eye because the lifting muscle has stretched or weakened. They can look similar and can coexist. Blepharoplasty removes skin and does not raise a drooping lid; ptosis is corrected by a different operation on the lifting muscle, which Cleveland Clinic describes as a separate repair.

Does eyelid surgery leave visible scars?

Upper-lid incisions are placed in the natural crease so the scar is largely hidden when the eye is open. Lower-lid surgery done through the inside of the lid leaves no external scar; the external approach places the scar just below the lashes where it usually blends in. Mayo Clinic notes scars can take months to fade, and noticeable scarring is a recognized though uncommon risk listed by both Mayo Clinic and the NHS.

Will I be able to wear contact lenses and makeup after blepharoplasty?

Yes, after a pause. Mayo Clinic and the NHS both advise waiting roughly two weeks before wearing contact lenses so the incisions and the eye surface can settle. Makeup over the incision lines is usually held off until the wounds have fully closed and the surgeon confirms it is safe. Sunglasses are encouraged early on for comfort and to protect healing skin from sun exposure.

References

• NHS – Eyelid surgery
• MedlinePlus – Eyelid lift

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a qualified doctor about your individual situation.