Dr. John Holds, MD

Training and board certification

Source for this section: dr-holds

• Board certification as listed: American Board of Ophthalmology.
• Practiced in St. Louis since 1990.
• Author of over 100 peer-reviewed papers on eyelid and facial plastic and reconstructive surgery; has run the PAWS surgery workshops in St. Louis since the 1990s.
• Worked with Oculinum toxin, which became Botox, when it was investigational in the 1980s, performing original neuroanatomic and clinical research.
• Site states he has been selected for "Best Doctors in America" every year since 1994.

Eyelid surgery work

• Upper blepharoplasty. Outpatient, local anesthesia with optional sedation, 1-2 hours; incision in the eyelid crease; may address vision obstruction as functional upper blepharoplasty (upper-eyelid-blepharoplasty).
• Lower blepharoplasty. The practice's signature technique is transconjunctival fat repositioning, described as originally developed by the practice and now used by other surgeons who have been trained in it, rather than removing fat; performed by Dr. Holds per the page (lower-eyelid-blepharoplasty).
• Double eyelid surgery (Asian blepharoplasty). Reshapes the upper eyelid skin to create a lid crease in single-lidded ("Asian") eyes; about one hour, local or general anesthesia (asian-blepharoplasty).
• Ptosis repair. Levator muscle tightening and reattachment through an upper-lid crease incision; Dr. Holds is described as "a noted authority" who has "written and published extensively" on ptosis repair (ptosis-repair).
• Revision eyelid surgery. Secondary blepharoplasty for scarring, over/under-correction, asymmetry or lid-closure problems from a prior surgery elsewhere; the site recommends waiting approximately six months after the first procedure before revision (revisional-eyelid-surgery).
• Brow lift and functional upper lid blepharoplasty are also offered.

Galleries (all returned HTTP 200 on 2026-09-30, with real before/after image files under /wp-content/uploads/ba-images): upper blepharoplasty, lower blepharoplasty, four-lid blepharoplasty, and brow lift.

Other procedures

The reconstructive side of the practice covers ectropion repair, tearing/lacrimal disease, eyelid cancer reconstruction, blepharospasm treatment, BOTOX for migraine, thyroid eye disease, orbital trauma and anophthalmos (loss of an eye) surgery. Cosmetic services also include midface lift, deep plane face/neck lift, fat transfer and injectables.

Insurance and cost

Functional upper blepharoplasty may be covered by insurance after testing and documentation when vision is obstructed; cosmetic upper blepharoplasty is typically self-pay (upper-eyelid-blepharoplasty). The ptosis repair page states "your medical insurance may cover the surgery." No dollar prices are published for any eyelid procedure.

Recovery: upper blepharoplasty sutures removed 6-8 days, back to work about a week, makeup/contacts/exercise resume at 2 weeks. Lower blepharoplasty: back to work 10-14 days, full healing up to 3 months. Ptosis repair: sutures removed (if not dissolving) 7-10 days, swelling/bruising 1-3 weeks, complete healing 1-3 months.

Practice