Shape and Height of Tarsal Plates.

The aim of this study is to elucidate the anatomic detail of the shape and height of the tarsal plates in Koreans.Fifty-four eyelids from Korean adult cadavers were used. Skin, subcutaneous tissue, and the orbicularis oculi muscle were all removed and the tarsal plates were exposed. The shapes of the tarsal plates were observed and the vertical heights of the tarsal plates were measured at its 1/4 (medial), 2/4 (central), and 3/4 (lateral) horizontal length.Tarsal plates were semilunar shaped and classified into 3 types: symmetric, medially skewed, and laterally skewed. For the upper eyelids, the laterally skewed type was the most frequent (42, 77.8%), followed by the medially skewed (8, 14.9%), and symmetric (4, 7.4%). For the lower eyelids, the laterally skewed type (20, 36.7%), the medially skewed (18, 33.3%), and symmetric type (16, 30.0%) had similar ratios. The vertical height of the upper tarsal plate was greatest at the central point (9.3 ± 0.9 mm), followed by the lateral point (7.1 ± 1.0 mm), and the medial point (6.2 ± 0.8 mm). The height of the lower tarsal plate was also greatest at the central point (4.6 ± 0.6 mm), followed by the medial point (3.9 ± 0.5 mm), and the lateral point (3.8 ± 0.5 mm). The base-height ratio of the upper tarsal plate was approximately 7:3 (2.344).Caucasians have wider (25-30 mm) and higher (10-12 mm) upper tarsal plates than those of Asians (21.8 mm, 9.3 mm). The vertical height of the lower tarsal plate, however, is similar both in Caucasians (4-5 mm) and in Asians (4.6 mm). Our results would be helpful for supratarsal fixation in Asian blepharoplasties.