Eyelids were folds of skin intended to protect the eyes. A German patient treated in Thomas Monaghan's field hospital in St Michel sewn his eyelids open to prevent himself from blinking while in the vicinity of Weeping Angels in July 1916. (COMIC: The Weeping Angels of Mons)
Cherub, while threatening the First Doctor with his knife, asked him if he'd ever seen what Mexican Indians could do to a man's eyelids. (TV: The Smugglers)