Dr. Milind Naik is a distinguished oculoplastic surgeon at the L.V. Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, with Twenty Five years of exclusive practice in plastic surgeries of the eye and its environs. Trained in ophthalmology at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, and subsequently fellowshipped at UCLA, he brings internationally benchmarked standards to one of India’s foremost eye care institutions. With over 200 peer-reviewed publications, active membership of ASOPRS, and Vice Presidency of APSOPRS, he is a clinician of global standing — equally at home in the operating theatre, the lecture hall, and the editorial boards of prestigious journals.
In this exclusive conversation with Rashmi Kumari of Neo Science Hub, Dr Naik spoke with quiet authority on the full spectrum of oculoplastic practice — from urgent congenital ptosis repair in infants to the ethics of social-media-driven cosmetic demand. He stressed early vision screening, cautioned against unsafe cosmetic trends, and reminded patients that a droopy eyelid need not define a life.
“Vision preservation is what makes oculoplastic surgery uniquely specialised”
“Ptosis in infancy, if severe, must be treated urgently”
“Threads offer short-lived results — I simply do not recommend them”
“A corrected deformity that changes a life: that is joy”
To begin at the beginning — how did you move from general eye care to oculoplastic and facial surgery? And what brought you specifically to Hyderabad and the L.V. Prasad Eye Institute?
I am originally from Maharashtra. I completed my MBBS and basic medical training in Pune. As you move through your undergraduate years, you naturally gravitate towards a subject that excites you. For me, that subject was ophthalmology — I found the field fascinating, I scored well in it, and it felt like the natural direction to pursue. So I went on to postgraduate training in ophthalmology at the Christian Medical College in Vellore, which is of course an institution of exceptional clinical rigour.
After completing my ophthalmology training at CMC, I came to Hyderabad specifically to learn oculoplastic surgery — the plastic surgeries performed in and around the eye. That is how I arrived here, and L.V. Prasad Eye Institute offered exactly the kind of academic environment and clinical depth that I was looking for. I have been here since, and I can say without hesitation that the decision shaped my entire professional life.
Oculoplastic surgery may be unfamiliar to many of our readers outside the ophthalmology world. Could you help us understand what the speciality actually covers?
Oculoplastic surgery is, simply put, the practice of plastic surgery in and around the eye. Plastic surgery as a broader speciality covers the entire body — from head to toe — and there are surgeons who are trained to work across that full spectrum. But when you bring that same plastic surgery philosophy and those same principles to the region of the eye, the work becomes considerably more specialised. You are now also responsible for preserving vision, which is an extraordinarily important function. The anatomy is more delicate, the instruments are finer, the sutures are finer, and you operate under the microscope far more frequently. Everything is at a microscopic scale — yet the underlying principles of plastic surgery remain intact.
Our scope is wide. We deal with eyelid disorders of all kinds — structural, functional, and cosmetic. We manage tumours around the eye and behind the eye. We treat conditions of the tear duct passage, which when obstructed cause chronic watering and recurring infections. We manage orbital trauma — injuries to the bony socket that houses the eye. And we rehabilitate patients who have lost an eye — whether through injury or malignancy — by fitting and maintaining artificial eyes. We also perform cosmetic procedures such as blepharoplasty and endoscopic brow surgery. The interdisciplinary nature of the field — spanning ophthalmology, maxillofacial surgery, ENT, and general surgery — is one of its defining intellectual attractions.
What are the most prominent or trending conditions you are encountering in clinical practice in recent years?
Birth defects and trauma have always been with us — they remain as common today as they were decades ago. What is new, and what has grown significantly in recent years, is the demand from patients who are technically normal but wish to look, as I put it, super-normal. They are seeking to reverse the visual signs of ageing around the eyes, or to address mild but longstanding cosmetic asymmetries that may have affected their self-confidence without ever threatening their vision. This is a legitimate and growing area of work, and it sits at the intersection of medicine and human psychology in ways that are genuinely interesting.
How has the demand for eyelid and facial cosmetic surgery changed in Hyderabad in recent years specifically?
The desire to look better is universal — it cuts across geography, social class, and income. Whether someone lives in a village or in a metropolitan city, whether they are wealthy or of modest means, that aspiration is present. The difference lies in access and financial capability. In metropolitan centres like Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai, the population that can seek and afford these services is growing, and so naturally the clinical demand is higher. But I would not want to suggest that this is exclusively an urban phenomenon — patients from smaller towns and rural areas come to us too, and they deserve no less consideration.
Many young patients today arrive with very specific aesthetic goals shaped by Instagram, K-pop aesthetics, or TikTok trends. How do you handle unrealistic expectations in the consultation room?
This is a genuinely important challenge in contemporary cosmetic practice. Social media creates a powerful and often distorting mirror — it presents certain looks as the norm, when in fact many of those images are filtered, surgically altered, or simply unrepresentative. Patients — often young, often arriving alone — come in with a very precise vision of what they want: a particular film star’s eye shape, or an influencer’s look. Not all of those wishes are medically beneficial, and some are potentially harmful to the function of the eye.
There are even procedures being promoted — such as implanting jewels in or around the eye, analogous to nose or ear piercings — that are simply not safe. My approach in such cases is extended counselling. When a young patient comes alone requesting a procedure I have concerns about, I ask them to bring their parents so the entire family can be part of an informed conversation. When a cosmetic procedure will genuinely improve appearance and well-being, I support it wholeheartedly. But when the motivation is driven by an external influence and the procedure carries functional risk, I work to dissuade them — firmly but with empathy.
