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Ageing Around The Eyes: Droopy Eyelids, Eyebags and Dark Eye Circles – Why Facials Alone Are Not Enough?
Ageing Around The Eyes: Droopy Eyelids, Eyebags and Dark Eye Circles – Why Facials Alone Are Not Enough?
The eyes are often said to be the windows to the soul. But the stresses of modern life can sometimes dull their sparkle. Age also takes its toll.
Eventually, dark circles and eye bags become harder to shake, even with sleep, eye creams or cold cucumber or teabag compresses.
What’s more, fine lines, crepey skin or wrinkles can develop, as well as haggard-looking hollowed areas that become difficult to conceal even with makeup.
The result? A permanently worn, tired look, even after a good night’s sleep.
The question is, is there anything we can do about this?
To answer this, we need to understand what causes signs of fatigue around the eyes in the first place.
Why That “Late Night Look” Doesn’t Go Away
Many elements can play a part in how our eyes look, such as a lack of sleep, allergies, stress or age.
To a large extent, we can control lifestyle factors such as rest, stress and allergen exposure. But no one can escape the passage of time.
We age through the different layers of the face:
- The skin loses collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid, leading to dry skin with fine lines and wrinkles. The skin also becomes less firm, with reduced elasticity.
- The natural fat pads shrink and shift downwards due to gravity. The forehead, temples, around the eyes and cheeks become less full.
- Our bone density decreases and facial structure becomes more hollow, especially around the eyes, cheeks and chin.
Specifically for the eyes, in addition to fine lines and wrinkles, the above changes lead to:
- Eye bags, caused by the fat pads moving downwards and collecting under the eyes.
- Droopy or puffy eyelids, contribute to a tired and swollen look.
- Dark eye circles, due to blood vessels under the eyes (and the blood they contain) showing through delicate undereye skin that’s just half a mm thick! And age thins the skin further. This is why it is common for people who never struggled with dark circles before to develop them with age.
- Hollowed depressions under the eye, caused by fat pads shifting downwards. These accentuate the eye bags and dark circles even more.
The hard truth is that no facials, cold compresses or eye creams can adequately reverse these physiological changes.
Restoring Freshness to Tired Peepers
Thankfully, all is not lost!
There are safe, non-surgical treatments available that target the signs of ageing around the eyes and give a natural, yet noticeable improvement.
. Eye Bags – These bulging fat pads can be melted with Microneedling Radiofrequency (RF) (eye rejuvenation)*, a device-based treatment that selectively targets the fat beneath the skin with radiofrequency heat, flattening the bulging fat while stimulating collagen renewal for tighter periorbital skin.
. Droopy or Puffy Eyelids – Either Microfocused Ultrasound with Visualisation (MFU-V), an FDA-approved heat-based device that stimulates collagen growth with ultrasound, or Microneedling Radiofrequency can give eyelids a subtle upward pull to help eyes look round and wakeful.
Sometimes, a little support with hyaluronic acid at the outer corner of the eyebrow also gives a much-needed lift for one to look bright and alert.
. Dark Eye Circles – A little trickier to treat, as this is not only dependent on how thin the undereye skin is, but also on how much sleep, stress and allergies (sinus, rhinitis, eczema etc) one has. Around the eyes, it is safe to use collagen-stimulating injectables, such as polynucleotides* (marine-derived DNA fragments) or poly-d-l-lactic acid (PDLLA) to stimulate collagen and elastin production to support the periorbital tissue. It is also safe to use the pico laser (pico laser) to reduce the buildup of haemosiderin (brownish-blue-black fragments from stagnant blood) and brighten the skin around the eyes.
. Periorbital Hollows or Tear Troughs – These hollows are volume deficits around the eyes, from loss of fat and muscle atrophy. The lost volume is addressed by replacing with fillers of hyaluronic acid, a lubricating gel that also occurs naturally in the human body.
And life is never as straightforward or as simple as we like.
These changes are not mutually exclusive and can occur singly, in combination, on one or both sides.
In this example, this lady has hollowed out just below her right eye, needing hyaluronic acid filler, and there’s a sizeable eyebag below her left eye, needing microneedling radiofrequency, and possibly hyaluronic acid filler at a later stage.
Everyone is different, and we don’t age the same. At IYAC, the doctors are trained to recognise these nuances and will give a candid opinion of what works. If surgery is not for you, then these rejuvenation eye treatments, which are generally well tolerated without much discomfort and downtime, may be just what you seek.
Ready to refresh the eyes non-surgically, or just want to find out more?
Dark Eye Circles and Eye Bags
Microneedling RF
Ultrasound Skin Tightening with MFU-V
pico laser
Collagen-stimulating Injectables
Email or call us at 6738 9989 for an appointment now.
* Per MOH guidelines, prescription-only medicines and professional-use-only medical devices must be referred to by their generic terms.
