How To Remove Eye Bags and Puffy Eyes
The eyes are the “window to the soul” and our most frequently viewed facial feature and unfortunately the first feature to show the signs of facial aging. Usually by the 30’s we begin to see crow’s feet, wrinkles, eye bags, dark circles under the eyes, and the start of eyelid hoods or hooding of the eyes.
Traditional plastic surgery called the blepharoplasty can reverse many of these eyelid aging changes however newer methods using laser blepharoplasty and other laser eyelid rejuvenation techniques are vastly improved methods for eyelid rejuvenation. Newer, non-surgical eyelid rejuvenation techniques such as Botox and non-surgical eyelid skin tightening techniques such as the Aluma radiofrequency skin tightening device can improve and help prevent eyelid aging changes such as eye hooding, wrinkles, eye bags, and dark circles under the eyes.
The laser eye lift, which I call the “modern blepharoplasty”, combines new laser and non-surgical skin rejuvenation technology to produce dramatic eyelid rejuvenation without many of the drawbacks of traditional blepharoplasty.
The laser eye lift combines the advantages of nearly bloodless laser incisional methods with non-surgical skin tightening and skin peeling methods for removal of wrinkles and tightening and freshening of the eyelid skin. For the first time we can achieve total eyelid rejuvenation, not just removal of eye bags and hooding of the eyes, but smooth young looking eyelid skin with fewer wrinkles and less sun damage and aging changes and removal of dark circles under the eyes.
In addition by using the laser to make a tiny incision on the inside of the lower eyelid (the transconjunctival blepharoplasty) we can avoid a visible scar on the outside of the lower eyelid. The transconjunctival blepharoplasty technique also avoids any change to the beautiful lower eyelid shape, a common and troublesome complication of traditional scalpel blepharoplasty with an external eyelid incision. In addition, with the transconjunctival blepharoplasty it is possible to release the arcus marginalis and thus truly remove dark circles under the eyes.
Advantages of the laser eyelid rejuvenation are:
- Faster Surgery
- Less bleeding
- Less Bruising
- Quicker Recovery
- No visible scar on lower eyelid
- No change in lower eyelid shape
- Removal of Puffy Eyes, Eye bags, and Dark Circles Under Eyes
- Freshening of Lower Eyelid Skin with Skin Tightening and Wrinkle Removal
The laser eyelift consists of 4 steps:
- Laser upper blepharoplasty for removal of hooding of the upper eyelid
- Transconjunctival lower blepharoplasty with arcus marginalis release and repositioning or grafting of fat to remove the dark circles and bags under the eyes
- Laser tightening of the lower eyelid and a procedure called canthoplasty to tighten the lower eyelid and remove eye bags
- ActiveFX Laser eyelid skin peel to remove wrinkles, sun damage , and tighten lower eyelid skin
The combination of these 4 steps provides truly total eyelid rejuvenation for the first time, something which the traditional scalpel blepharoplasty just cannot achieve. Furthermore with the advantages of less bleeding and bruising, recovery time is usually shorter than with traditional scalpel blepharoplasty.
During step 1of the laser blepharoplasty, the laser is used to remove the loose upper eyelid skin which is creating the eye hoods. After the loose skin is removed access is gained to the canthal ligament, which supports the lower eyelid, through the upper eyelid incision, so that the lower eyelid may be tightened in step 3 to restore the shape of the lax lower eyelid.
Step2, the transconjunctival laser blepharoplasty removes bags under eyes, puffy eyee, and dark circles under eyes. The conjunctiva is the pink portion of the inner lower eyelid, thus when the laser incision is made on the inner side of the lower eyelid it is called a transconjunctival incision. This approach avoids a visible scar on the outside of the lower eyelid. In addition, the supporting skin and muscle of the lower eyelid is not violated and thus the beautiful shape of the eyelid is not changed. One major drawback of traditional scalpel blepharoplasty is weakening of the lower eyelid and a downward turn of the eyelid referred to as an ectropion, also called the sad eyed look or hound dog eyes. The transconjunctival blepharoplasty avoids this complication.
During step 2 the eyelid fat which is causing the eye bag in either removed or repositioned so that it no longer causes the puffy eye bulge or eye bag. In addition, the arcus marginalis, a condensation of eyelid tissue which tethers the lower eyelid skin and causes the dark circle under the eye, is released allowing the dark circle to ‘open up”. In addition fat is placed beneath the dark circle to plump the dark circle. The combination of fat repositioning and arcus marginalis release remove the dark circles under eyes.
Step 3. During step 3 the laser is used to tighten the lower eyelid skin by shrinking the lower eyelid tissues through the transconjunctival incision. In addition, the canthal ligament, which supports the lower eyelid, is tightened with a suture placed through the upper lid incision, a procedure called a canthopexy. These two procedures tighten the lower eyelid and also provide a small amount of upper cheek lift.
Step 4. Step 4 involves refreshing, smoothing, and tightening of the lower eyelid skin using the ActiveFX laser eyelid peel. This new high tech procedure allows for rejuvenation of the skin surface of the lower eyelid and thus total eyelid rejuvenation. In the past with traditional laser blepharoplasty, hoods and bags were removed but the eyelid skin remained wrinkled and old looking. With today’s new laser blepharoplasty and eyelid rejuvenation techniques a truly fresh and rejuvenated eyelid appearance is possible.
The laser eye lift is the modern blepharoplasty approach which provides total eyelid rejuvenation. For further information read Save Your Face or contact me.
Concord, Massachusetts
978-369-4499