I don’t know about you, but one of the most annoying things a person can say to me is… ”you look tired.” I might be having the best day ever and on top of the world and all of a sudden, I feel more tired. My energy goes down and I want to go rest. The thing is that a look of tiredness is not even your fault. As humans we often perceive tiredness by a heaviness in the eyes and dark circles or bags under the eyes. This tends to be genetic. Of course, it is made worse by not protecting yourself from the sun and not using a good eye cream to preserve hydration.
Even young people can look tired from dark circles under the eyes due to superficial veins under the eye or a flat mid-cheek that causes grooves under the eye (what we call tear troughs). As our skin thins under the eye from aging, it shows even more of the blood vessels and often creates a tear trough groove. As we age further, the under eye can’t support the fat surrounding our eyeball and we get eye bags from protrusion of that fat. It’s hard to win as time ticks by. We can also look tired by sagging but I have already addressed that in a previous blog so I will leave that alone, although it is a reminder that negative emotional attributes of the face do not happen in isolation.
Enough about what causes the appearance of tiredness. How do we correct it? Maybe I’m weird but I get really excited when talking about the under-eye area. I don’t often toot my own horn, but I am Alberta’s expert on correcting the under eye with dermal fillers. Through a number of techniques that I have mastered, I correct a lot of under eye issues. It is something that I take a lot of pride in and have developed an expertise in an area that few cosmetic physicians have. The aim is not for perfection but to give the appearance of thicker skin, create less darkness and reduce the appearance of eye bags. Sometimes I can’t help and I refer patients to the friendly neighborhood plastic surgeon but it is often worth seeing how good I can get things prior to entertaining the risks of surgery.
Why not have surgery? Because although a good surgeon can help with skin laxity, they can’t bring back volume. If there is a lot of loose skin, which we can assess at the time of consult, then it can be worth getting a surgical opinion. If surgery is not wanted or you have underlying medical problems that prevent surgery then it is surprising, even with significant loose skin, how much better we can get the eye area with a combination of laser treatments, dermal fillers and better-quality skin products.
So, let’s have a conversation about your under eye area and I can give you an honest opinion as to whether I can help.