Dear Dr.Seckel, I need major advice? I am 27 years old and had a phenol chemical peel on my under eyelids. My plastic surgeon said this was the only thing he could do for me considering my age for dark circles. I researched this and even went to a cosmetic derm to make sure this was okay to perform in the orbital area. I want you to know I do not have bags under my eyes therefore I don’t think I am a candidate for a lower blepharoplasty. The reason he did the phenol peel was to take care of hyper pig which as you know, a side effect of phenol is lightening of the skin. Well it’s been 3 months and my eyes are still pink in color and I now have lines from the corner of my eyes headed downward. It sort of looks like I may have tear trough deformity. It goes all the way into my cheek. This is not a discolored line from demarcation this is a line which developed b/c of how deep the phenol peel penetrates especially when you have thin skin to begin with. I now have this hollowed look to my eyes and I am so depressed that I do not like to look in a mirror at all anymore. My life before I had this done was great. I had just gotten married 7 months ago and just wanted to fix the under eye circles that had bothered me all my life and now it’s all I can focus on and I am devastated by it. I know you are very busy but, I would really appreciate your advice. Best Regards, Heather, Springfield, Ill
Dear Heather,
I am very sorry to hear of your distress after having an eyelid phenol chemical peel for eyelid rejuvenation. I use the laser to correct dark circles under the eyes.
When the redness goes away after your peel, the skin will be much lighter-hypo pigmented–this can take 6 months to a year to see the full hypo pigmentation. A new machine called the gentlewaves or IPL or photo facial treatments can help speed the resolution of the redness and broken blood vessel appearance.
Once the redness is gone I do expect that the skin will be lighter in color and smoother in texture. Ask your doctor if there is any evidence of hypertrophic scarring-if there is intervention with IPL and pressure therapy or silicone gel sheeting is necessary.
Once your skin has healed completely, probably after a year, if you still have the dark circles under the eyes or tear rough, then you might consider a plumping operation. If the eyelid skin is stable enough then you may be able to have a transconjunctival blepharoplasty with an arcus release and fat repositioning or fat grafting to fill the tear trough. You will have to wait and see how well the final skin texture and thickness is at that point.
For more information on eyelid rejuvenation, skin care, plastic surgery and non-surgical facial rejuvenation read Save Your Face or contact me.
Boston, Massachusetts