Eyes
are one of the easiest ways to tell someone’s age. At
CFAA we have many approaches to address these concerns.
From Botox, fillers, Mesotherapy, VI Peel, IPL, anti-oxidant
crèmes, skin care products or a combination approach,
we can usually treat most issues. Please call 813-341-2600
for a complimentary consult to discuss your issues and
options available.
Under-eye-wrinkles are quite common; even some small children have
a slight wrinkling in this area.
It's not surprising really, when you consider that the average
person blinks over 10,000 times a day - all that movement has got
to create a few lines.
Causes of wrinkles under
the eyes
The problem begins when our skin's elasticity starts to weaken and
it can no longer 'bounce back'. Unfortunately as we grow older our
levels of proteins like collagen - which are needed to give the
skin this elastic quality - slowly decrease. The result is more
pronounced lines and wrinkles, especially around the eyes and
under the eyes.
Prevention
Apart from when you sleep, your eyes are constantly active.
Working on a computer, watching the television, reading, even
playing sport - these are all extremely demanding on the eye
itself as well as its support mechanisms, i.e. the skin and
muscles that support it.
With this in mind, try to rest your eyes as often as possible. If
you work at a computer all day long, take a two-minute break every
hour or so and close your eyes. This will give the muscles chance
to relax, which in turn should help prevent wrinkles brought about
through intense muscle stimulation.
If you find yourself squinting, do something about it! The
crumpling affect that this has on your eyes will eventually lead
to severe-looking eye wrinkles. If you are squinting because your
lighting is not bright enough then change it until you feel
comfortable; if it is too bright then wear shades. If you simply
can't see properly, then get your eyes tested and stop making it
so hard for your eyes to see!
Cure
Your eyes and the skin around the eyes are extremely delicate, and
therefore need to be treated as such. Regular face creams and
treatments may be too drying or too heavy for the eyes, so make
sure you get one specifically designed for this area. Creams
containing Retin-A are great for softening under-eye wrinkles.
Also micro injections of nutrients, elaticin and hylayronic acid
can help dramatically improve wrinkles.
If you want immediate results and are prepared to spend more cash,
you could undergo some laser treatment to rejuvenate the face, or
some Botox injections to smooth out the skin from within. You may
find that a combination of treatments works well for you.
Botox injections relax the muscles that create wrinkles thereby
lessening the appearance of frown lines, laugh lines and crow's
feet. After a Botox injection, for example, you are no longer able
to frown so the lines created by frowning are eliminated.
A protein toxin produced by the clostridium botulinum bacteria,
Botox eliminates the facial wrinkles that occur with overuse of
facial muscles.
A small amount of Botox is injected right into the muscles that
are responsible for creating wrinkles. Botox effectively
inactivates the muscles that produce wrinkles, thereby causing
lines to disappear or diminish dramatically.
Allergy Test: N/A
Longevity: 3-4 months
Dark circles are due to a variety of factors. There is no one,
single cure and sometimes, a combination of treatments is
required. Understanding the different causes will help you be
aware of the varied treatments.
Firstly, the problem can be in the skin around the eyes, which is
more darkly pigmented than the surrounding skin. This is commonly
seen in dark skin where on stretching the eyelid skin taut, you
can see a darker pigment in the skin itself. Secondly, some people
have crepey, crinkly skin around the eyes, which traps light and
makes it appear darker.
The most common cause, however, is due to the congestion of blood
vessels. This can either be in a thin network of vessels that lies
beneath the eyelid skin or in the eyebag fat itself. Eyebags also
create a bulge just below the eyes, which casts a shadow, making
the dark skin look worse and delineating the junction between the
eyebags and the cheeks.
Whenever we examine patients with dark eye circles, we am struck
by how many of them have eyebags with some degree of vascular
congestion, which makes the eyelid appear bluish, purplish or
sometimes greenish. This explains why the lack of sleep makes them
more prominent – it is the buildup of decongested or deoxygenated
blood in the eyebag vessels.
Some individuals have a combination of all of these reasons and
each has to be treated separately. When eyebags are responsible
for the dark rings, then it is only logical to remove them
surgically or use a mesotherapy combination to correct them. We
prefer an approach that involves microinjections in the fat pads
that allows the fat to be removed without damaging the skin and
muscle. There is also no external scar. We then use a laser to
remove the greenish veins around the eyes.
If there is pigment in the skin or the presence of fine red
vessels that make the eye rings look purplish or reddish, we use
Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) to reduce this. This helps to stimulate
collagen production and make the eyelid skin more taut.
Microdermabrasion also seems to have a positive effect on
smoothening the crepey skin. If the pigment around the eyes is
very dark and prominent, then we recommend the use of a pigment
laser to burn it away. The only problem is that there is
considerable downtime and some post-laser pigmentation which may
take several months to subside.
Thankfully, it always does subside. We also recommend antioxidant
creams, anti-pigment creams and medically approved anti-wrinkle
creams to help smoothen and lighten the eyelid skin. we also warn
patients that it may take several months before they can see
results.
Top 8 Causes of Dark
Circles Under the Eyes
Most People Inherit the Tendency for Dark Circles. Black or dark
circles under or around the eyes can be caused by many different
factors. The following are the most common causes of those
unattractive dark circles.
HEREDITY
Like varicose veins, dark circles under the eyes are usually an
inherited trait. If you have dark circles, there is a good chance
that others in your family also have them. The skin under the eye
is very thin. When blood passes through the large veins close to
the surface of the skin it can produce a bluish tint. The more
transparent your skin, also an inherited trait, the darker the
circles appear.
EXPOSURE TO THE SUN
Even in darker skinned people, exposure to sunlight, especially
during the summer months, can cause a higher-than-normal level of
skin pigmentation (melanin) under the eyes. People get sun tans
because exposure to the sun increases the natural pigmentation of
the skin and draws that pigmentation to the surface. The same
principle applies to the skin under the eyes.
ALLERGIES, ASTHMA and ECZEMA
Any condition that you have that causes your eyes to itch can
contribute to darker circles under the eyes because rubbing or
scratching the skin can darken the skin. Hay fever sufferers
particularly will notice under-eye "smudges" during the height of
the allergy season. Some food allergies can also cause the area
under the eyes to appear darker.
MEDICATIONS
Any medications that you are taking that causes blood vessels to
dilate, can cause circles under the eyes to darken. Because the
skin under the eyes is very delicate, any increase blood flow
shows through the skin.
NUTRITION
The lack of nutrients in the diet, or the lack of a balance diet,
can contribute to the discoloration of the area under the eyes.
FATIGUE, LACK OF SLEEP
A lack of sleep or excessive tiredness can cause paleness of the
skin, which again allows the blood underneath the skin to become
more visible and appear more blue or darker.
PREGNANCY and MENSTRUATION
The skin can also become more pale during pregnancy and
menstruation, which again allows the underlying veins under the
eyes to become more visible.
AGE
If you have a propensity to have dark circles under you eyes, as
you grow older, they are likely to become more noticeable and
permanent. Excess folds of skin under the eyes will also make dark
circles more pronounced.
Following are a few treatments for
dark circles that will help alleviate or conceal them:
Dip a cotton swab into freshly extracted mint
juice, rosewater or cold milk. Lie down with your feet raised
higher than your head, and then place the wet pads on your closed
eyes. Stay that way for 10 minutes. Do this everyday and you will
start seeing results before long.
Gently massage saffron or almond oil on the dark
area before going to bed.
Lie down and place a slice of cucumber or potato on
each eyelid for about fifteen minutes.
Follow a diet rich in iron, vitamins and proteins.
Deficiencies immediately show up as circles under the eyes.
You can also use a mixture of almond oil or
cucumber juice with lemon juice to lighten dark circles.
Drink lots of water and get plenty of rest.
Exercise for the Eyes
1. Sit down and relax. Breathe normally, and look at a spot
between your eyes, above the bridge of your nose. Keep looking at
this spot for a count of five, and then relax the eyes. Next look
at the tip of your nose, also to the count of five and relax. This
exercise will ease the stress and tension and will relax your
eyes.
2. Sit down and relax and look straight in front of you. Inhale
and look right as far as possible, without turning your head.
Slowly come to the original position and exhale. Repeat the same
method for the left side. Do this exercise three times.
3. Sit up straight and look down. Slowly inhale and start rolling
your eyes to the right and then to the top, in a circular
movement. When your eyes have reached the top, looking towards
your eyebrows, start exhaling while moving your eyes left and
downwards in a circular movement. Repeat three times.
Eyes
are one of the easiest ways to tell someone’s age. At
CFAA we have many approaches to address these concerns.
From Botox, fillers, Mesotherapy, VI Peel, IPL, anti-oxidant
crèmes, skin care products or a combination approach,
we can usually treat most issues. Please call 813-341-2600
for a complimentary consult to discuss your issues and
options available.