William Chen, M.D.

Asian Eyelid Surgery Center
Irvine (Main Office) and Newport Beach
(949) 585-5188
“Do good work, be a leader, and teach.”

Dr.Chen has been in clinical practice for 30 years as an oculoplastic surgery specialist. His main area of interest is in aesthetic (cosmetic) surgery of the eyelids, especially in regard to perfecting his skill and understanding of the function and intricate physiology as relate to double eyelid surgery for Asian patients.

He decided on Ophthalmology after realizing his liking for microsurgery as a medical student on an Ophthalmology research externship at UCLA-Jules Stein Eye Institute. During Ophthalmology residency training, the complexity of plastic surgery of the eye and adjacent structures enticed him to pursue fellowship training in the subspecialty of Oculoplastic Surgery. He saw one Asian eyelid surgery during that year of fellowship training 30 years ago.

In private practice, he realized then that there are diverse opinions and approaches to double eyelid crease procedures for Asians, with the medical literature offering clashing views and conflicting terminologies that are baffling depending on your ethnic language background.

Undaunted, and having had bilingual education growing up in HK, Dr.Chen searched and read all the English medical literature on Medline and papers published in Asian languages on the topic of double eyelids and double eyelid crease surgery. He felt strongly that there is a distinct difference in the technical and cultural understanding that is required, as well as skills needed for this most prevalent form of cosmetic surgery in Asia.

In a paper published in 1987, he first coined the term “Asian Blepharoplasty”.

After performing primary as well as corrective surgeries on quite a large set of Asian patients, he published the first medical surgical textbook on double eyelid surgery which included his technique, titled “Asian Blepharoplasty and the Eyelid Crease”. Dr. Chen then started teaching an Instruction course at the AAO Annual Meeting, and this continues periodically to the present. The book is now in its 3rd edition (Chen, Elsevier, 2016), available on Amazon.