Peking Union Medical College Hospital Announces Technology Transfer of a Novel Guidance and Fixation Instrument for Transconjunctival Lower Eyelid Blepharoplasty

Recently, Peking Union Medical College Hospital issued a transfer announcement, proposing to“A Guiding and Fixation Device for Transconjunctival Approach in Lower Eyelid Blepharoplasty”Commercialization of scientific and technological achievements. This achievement is intended to be transferred through the assignment of patent rights, with a transaction amount of50,000 yuan。

The device consists ofTeam of Yu Nanze, Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Peking Union Medical College HospitalR&D.

The team possesses extensive clinical experience and a strong foundation in technological innovation in the field of aesthetic and reconstructive eyelid surgery, having undertaken a series of original works particularly in the design and application of surgical instruments for transconjunctival blepharoplasty assisted by endoscopy.

This technology involves a dedicatedGuiding and Fixation Instrument for Transconjunctival Approach to Lower Eyelid Blepharoplasty. It employs a specialCurved Structure with Suture-Attached Needle Tip Design, enabling more precise tissue guidance and fixation during minimally invasive surgery, thereby helping to shorten operative time, reduce tissue damage, and enhance the accuracy and safety of surgical procedures.

Transconjunctival BlepharoplastyThe incision for this procedure is located on the conjunctival surface of the inner eyelid, leaving no visible scars on the skin. Characterized by a short operative time and minimal trauma, it has gradually become the preferred option for many patients with under-eye bags in recent years.

This procedure is primarily indicated for patients with significant tear trough deformity and prominent eye bags, but with relatively tight lower eyelid skin that does not require excision of excess skin. Tear trough deformity refers to the groove-like depression at the junction between the lower eyelid and the cheek, which often coexists with eye bags and affects the smoothness of facial contours. The core steps of the surgery involve two parts: first, removing the excess protruding fat from the lower eyelid orbital septum; second, transferring and securing a portion of the preserved fat tissue to the target area.

The orbital septum is an elastic connective tissue membrane that acts as a barrier, encapsulating and restraining the fat pads surrounding the eyeball. With aging or due to genetic factors, laxity of the orbital septum may lead to anterior protrusion of the fat, resulting in eye bags.

One common surgical technique involves releasing the orbital septal fat, excising the excess portion, and then securing the remaining fat pad to the deep layer of the orbicularis oculi muscle at the inferior orbital rim using absorbable sutures. The orbicularis oculi is a circular muscle surrounding the eye that is responsible for eyelid closure. This fixation not only reduces bulging of the eye bags but also utilizes autologous fat to fill the tear trough depression, achieving a dual benefit.

However, in current clinical practice, existing surgical instruments struggle to adequately performOrbital Septal Fat FixationThis critical step. As the entire procedure is performed via a transconjunctival approach, the surgical field is inherently limited, with inferior dissection extending only to the infraorbital rim.

The deep space in this region is extremely narrow, making fixation with traditional suture needles attached to a thread at the needle tail highly challenging. The surgeon must guide the suture through the orbicularis oculi muscle, which is located deeply and not directly visible, or create additional skin incisions to facilitate the procedure.

In a narrow and deep surgical field, the maneuverability of the needle holder is limited, which not only significantly prolongs operative time but also reduces the success rate per attempt; repeated manipulations increase the risk of injury to surrounding tissues. Opting for an additional external incision would contradict the original intent of scarless transinternal surgery and result in cutaneous scarring.

Therefore, there is an urgent clinical need for specialized surgical instruments adapted to this narrow and deep operative space, to help surgeons perform the fat fixation step more rapidly, precisely, and with minimal trauma, thereby enhancing the overall efficiency and safety of the procedure.

To this end, the R&D team focused on innovating the form and function of surgical instruments, designing a device specifically tailored for this step.Guidance and Fixation Device. Its unique structural design is specifically engineered to directly address the aforementioned operational pain points, aiming to provide physicians with an intuitive and effective tool, thereby ushering surgery into a new era characterized by greater precision, enhanced efficiency, and minimal invasiveness.

The core advantage of this guidance and fixation device lies primarily in itsComposite Structural Design Specifically Adapted for Narrow and Deep Surgical Fields via the Transconjunctival Approach。

It integrates a triangular needle tip, an arc-shaped body with a specific curvature, and a straight extension section into a single unit. The triangular needle tip is extremely sharp, with a triangular cross-section at its apex. This design enables easy penetration of tough tissues, such as the skin over the zygomatic region, establishing a channel for the instrument from the external skin surface directly to the internal surgical field.

Most critically, a fine thread-passage hole with a diameter of 0.5 mm is located 1 mm from the tip of the needle. This ingenious design enablesThe suture can be pre-threaded through this hole, thereby achieving a "suture-loaded tip."

As the device penetrates tissue along a preset path, the suture is naturally drawn along in tow. Throughout the entire manipulation at the distal end of the device, physicians can directly observe and control the trajectory of the suture, fundamentally transforming the passive scenario inherent to traditional needle-tail threading methods, where the suture trails behind and is prone to entanglement or difficult to position precisely within blind zones.

Its advanced nature is further reflected inAchieved predictability and precise control over operations in non-visible regions through meticulous geometric parameters and vision-assisted design.

The curved body of the instrument is designed with an arc corresponding to 3/8 of a circle, with a total length of 32 mm. This curvature and length have been calculated to best conform to the anatomical pathway from the lower eyelid conjunctival incision to the target fixation area at the inferior orbital rim. However, relying solely on this curved segment may result in the tail end of the instrument remaining embedded within the incision, which is unfavorable for stable grasping by the needle holder and for continuous operation.

Therefore, innovativelyA straight extension measuring 32 mm in length is smoothly connected to the curved distal end.This enables surgeons to comfortably grasp and manipulate linear segments within the surgical field for advancement, rotation, and retraction, ensuring coherent and stable deep-tissue maneuvers while significantly enhancing haptic feedback transmission and operational fluency.

To address the core challenge of the device tip becoming invisible after entering tissue, this patent introducesProprietary Deep VisualizationSolution. A 1-mm-wide black marker band is positioned on the curved body of the triangular needle, 8 mm from the needle tip. This marker band serves as a critical visual reference scale.

During surgery, when the physician withdraws the instrument and the black marker band first becomes visible at the skin puncture site, this clearly indicates that the instrument tip is precisely positioned within the target tissue layer—the orbicularis oculi muscle.

This design ingeniously converts the position of the deep, invisible tip into a clear visual signal within the surgical field, enabling surgeons to accurately assess penetration depth and prevent excessive withdrawal that could result in overly superficial or insufficient fat fixation.

It essentially provides a real-time, intuitive depth-feedback mechanism, transforming the traditional “blind insertion and blind withdrawal” that relies on experience and tactile feel into visually guided precision navigation.

In summary, the comprehensive advantages of this device lie in itsFundamental Optimization of Surgical Workflows Through Integrated Design. It operates through“Tipped with Suture - Curved Guidance - Linear Control - Marked Positioning”synergistic effect, transforming the originally difficult, time-consuming, and low-success-rate steps of suture passage and fat fixation in confined spaces into a smooth, precise, controllable, and standardized workflow.

This not only directly shortens operative time and reduces tissue injury caused by repeated attempts, but also enhances overall surgical safety and reliability by improving the success rate of single-pass procedures and the accuracy of fixation positioning, representing a successful application of minimally invasive plastic surgery principles in specific surgical instruments.

In response to the clinical pain points encountered in current ophthalmic surgeries, such as poor instrument compatibility, low operational precision, and insufficient controllability, many medical device companies and research institutions are continuously exploring corresponding solutions.

In the domestic market, Peking Union Medical College Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences,Its Department of Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery has conducted clinical research and application of transconjunctival blepharoplasty for lower eyelid bag correction in the field of facial rejuvenation.

In the field of ophthalmic surgery,The department’s core achievement lies in exploring and validating the clinical efficacy of buried suture-guided transconjunctival lower blepharoplasty. Intraoperatively, the buried suture technique was employed to assist in the internal fixation of the orbital septal fat flap. Surgical outcomes, patient satisfaction, and complications were assessed using the Barton classification system. Follow-up evaluations demonstrated that this approach yields favorable surgical results with a high safety profile. This buried suture-guided surgical technique has already been implemented in clinical practice.

The First Affiliated Hospital of Army Medical University, PLAThe hospital has achieved certain results in the research and development of medical devices for ophthalmic surgery.

In terms of R&D achievements related to ophthalmic surgery,The hospital has filed an invention patent application titled “Intelligent Eyelid Fixation and Tear Fluid Drainage Composite Device.” This device, classified as an ophthalmic surgical auxiliary instrument, comprises an arc-shaped main frame, multi-segment pressure-sensing fixation wings, a microfluidic drainage channel, a humidity compensation module, and a central control unit. By dynamically conforming to eyelid morphology, efficiently draining tear fluid, maintaining ocular surface moisture, and establishing an intelligent feedback closed-loop system, the device addresses issues associated with traditional eyelid specula, such as uneven pressure distribution, inefficient tear management, and poor anatomical adaptability. These improvements enhance the maintenance of ocular surface microenvironment homeostasis during ophthalmic surgeries, thereby reducing tissue damage and procedural interruptions. The patent application is currently under examination.

Overall, the development of a guided fixation instrument for transconjunctival lower blepharoplasty,Reflects the technological development trends addressing specific, refined pain points in clinical operations.

In the long term, as the concepts of minimally invasive and precision medicine become more deeply entrenched, innovation in specialized instruments tailored to specific procedural steps, along with their integration with digital and visualization technologies, is expected to drive sustained development in this field.