How Can I Improve My Aging Eyes Without Surgery?

Q: Dr. Eppley, the areas around my eyes is starting to look really bad over the past five years or so. My eyes used to be one of my best features but now they are just getting old looking. I am 47 years old and have wrinkles around my eyes and some extra skin on the eyelids. My brows now seem a little low too. I don’t want to go through surgery such as an eyelid tuck or a browlift so what can I do? Do I need some special cream or some type of laser treatment?

 A: There is no non-surgical equivalent to what eyelid and browlift surgery can do, but there are some laser treatments that offer some mild to moderate improvement… certainly far better than what any type of topical cream can do. These are the newer fractional laser treatments and they offer some really good improvement around the eye area. Fractional lasers are different than traditional ones because they treat only a fraction of the skin surface but each tiny laser point or dot penetrates deeper. This allows for actual skin rejuvenation through collagen remodeling and less down time and recovery. Because eyelid skin is so thin ( the epidermis is only 0.04mm thick), it requires a series of light laser treatments ( one to four) to prevent a burn injury and get some really visible improvement. Studies have shown patients get a 25% to 50% improvement with half of the patients maintaining a 1 to 2mms eyebrow lift one year later. Recovery is usally anout 3 to 4 days after each treatment.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana