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Tired-looking eyes age you more than people usually know. Even if you get a full night’s sleep, you might be the victim of puffy, under-eye bags, or dark circles. Crinkly crow’s feet in the corners of your eyes can also age you.
While surgery, namely blepharoplasty, restores a youthful look to your eye area, it’s not the best option for everyone. If you want a quicker fix, injectables can often help make your eyes look more well-rested and generally more youthful.
Crow’s Feet
As you get older, those years of laughing, crying and squinting start to catch up with you. Plenty of people develop crow’s feet in the corners of their eyes. Crow’s feet are small, fine lines that resemble the footprint of a bird. While some people wear their crow’s feet with pride, believing that they are proof of a well-lived life, others would prefer to show that they’ve had a great life in other ways.
Fortunately, there is a way to soften crow’s feet in the corners of your eyes. These creases are a type of dynamic wrinkle, meaning they appear when you move your facial muscles. Botox injections are approved by the FDA for use to reduce the look of crow’s feet and other dynamic lines on your face, such as the vertical frown lines that form between the eyebrows.
Dark Circles
You don’t have to be getting older to experience dark circles under your eyes, but the aging process plays a big role in how prominent those dark circles are. Other common contributors to dark under-eye circles include a lack of sleep, congestion, dehydration and a night of heavy drinking.
Dark circles are visible because you don’t have much fat in the under-eye area. As you get older, your skin becomes even thinner, making them more noticeable. An injectable filler such as Restylane can help make the circles less prominent. It’s made of hyaluronic acid, which helps restore lost volume.
Although it’s only FDA-approved for the treatment of nasolabial folds, a number of doctors will perform Restylane injections in the eye area. Since the eye area is incredibly delicate, working with a highly trained, experienced practitioner is essential.
How Long Treatment Lasts
Fillers and injections to treat signs of aging in the eye area aren’t permanent. How long the treatment lasts depends on a number of factors. For example, Botox treatments typically only last a few months, though in some cases, you might see results for up to a year. Hyaluronic acid fillers such as Restylane often last longer, in some cases more than a year. While the results from fillers such as Restylane will be visible immediately, it can take several days for the results from a Botox injection to become visible.
If you wish to maintain your results, you should see your doctor for repeat treatments. In the case of Botox, you can have injections every three months or so.
Things You Should Know
Although injectables and fillers require less downtime than eyelid surgery and the risk for complications might be considerably lower, there are still several things you should be aware of before deciding on one or the other, or even both.
There is a risk of side effects from any type of injection. For example, you might have some swelling or bruising at the site of the injection. In the case of Botox, there is a small risk that the substance will move from the injection site, causing droopiness or other issues. To reduce the chance of migration, you’ll be told not to rub the area for some time after the treatment.
Since the area under your eyes is very thin-skinned, there’s a slight risk that lumps or bumps will develop after the filler is injected. The skill of the person doing the injection and the exact site of the injection determines whether lumps will form or not. The deeper the injection, the less likely it is that the results will be lumpy.
