treatments for sagging skin

Your eyes are one of the first features that people see when they meet you. Depending on how you feel about your eyes’ appearance, this may be good news or bad news. As a board-certified plastic surgeon who specializes in facial rejuvenation, I have so many patients who come in and say, “My eyes have aged so quickly, and they make me look older and more tired than I actually feel.” Indeed, there are a number of ways that aging affects the appearance of your eyes, but fortunately there are just as many ways to make your eyes look young again. To offer some guidance, I’m taking a look at some of the most common cosmetic problems around the eyes and explaining what you can do to fight them.

Bags under the Eyes

Sometimes “puffiness” under the eyes can come from skin irritation, rubbing your eyes, or fluid retention, but if it seems to be a more persistent issue, it’s probably a combination of genetics and aging. We all have small pads of fat under our eyes, but these fat pads can slowly shift outward as we age, and particularly when they’re combined with the common aging symptom of thinning and sagging skin under the eyes, they can create “under-eye bags” that make you look tired. In this case, a lower blepharoplasty (or my unique minimally invasive Band Aid Lower Eyelid Surgery) can remove the fat pad and tighten the skin if needed.

Crow’s Feet

With all the countless little movements your facial muscles make throughout the day with every facial expression, it’s no wonder that over time, these muscles can become tense and hold onto their contracted shape. This creates visible wrinkles in the skin, such as crow’s feet, frown lines between the eyebrows, and creases across the forehead. To treat these particular lines correctly, you need to address the contracted muscle rather than just the skin above it, and this is precisely the purpose of Botox® and Dysport®. These two injectables (nearly identical solutions from two different brands) block the nerve receptors to these specific muscles, causing them to relax and smooth out so that the wrinkles will do the same.

Skin Laxity

One of the most well-known signs of aging is sagging skin. Collagen and elastin are components of the skin that create firmness and strength. While these components are constantly being broken down by our own body and by environmental factors (like sun exposure), young bodies produce enough of them to consistently replace the lost collagen and elastin. As we age our bodies produce less and less of them, allowing the skin to become thinner and to sag. The area around the eyes is no exception, but if it’s not quite bad enough to need cosmetic surgery, you may be a candidate for nonsurgical skin tightening. This noninvasive procedure applies targeted warmth to the treatment area, and when it reaches the deeper layers of the skin, this warmth enhances your collagen production. Over time and with a brief series of sessions, this leads to tighter, thicker, and smoother skin.

“Hooded” Eyelids

Some people naturally have more skin above their upper eyelids than others, but when the aging process kicks in and this extra skin begins to lose its firmness, it can droop along the top of the upper eyelids. These are often called “hooded” eyelids, and they can make people look like they’re narrowing their eyes in anger or like they’re half-asleep. To regain a more cheerful, approachable look, patients with this issue can choose to have upper eyelid surgery, also called upper blepharoplasty. Whether it’s performed in an operating room or in-office as my innovative Band Aid Upper Eyelid Surgery, this procedure removes the excess skin.

Dark Circles under the Eyes

There are a few different reasons that people can develop dark circles under their eyes that make them look older or tired. Some people simply have deeper-set eyes, and when their brow bone extends out too far (especially when they lose facial volume with age, causing the hollows under their eyes to become more pronounced), it casts a shadow on the hollow areas under the eyes. In this case, facial fillers like Restylane® can be injected into the hollow area to add volume and minimize the shadow’s effect. For other patients, dark circles under the eyes are caused by the skin thinning during the aging process. In this case, the best treatment is usually Band Aid Laser Skin Resurfacing. Using the advanced and minimally invasive technology of DOTâ„¢ Therapy, this treatment uses tiny columns of laser light to stimulate collagen production while also reducing fine line, wrinkles, age spots, scars, and more, leading to a strong reduction in dark circles under the eyes as well as providing other rejuvenating benefits.

Your eyes can say so much about your energy and your mood, but some parts of the aging process can make your eyes work against you so you longer look like your upbeat, energetic self. If getting a good night’s sleep doesn’t help, professional skin care and/or cosmetic surgery may be able to give you that younger and healthier look. To get started on the journey to rejuvenate your eyes, schedule a consultation with me today at my Atlanta office. For more plastic surgery tips, health news, and more, follow me, Dr. John L. LeRoy on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.