What Causes Crepey Skin Around My Eyes?

We’ve all seen them—those infomercials for the most amazing eye cream ever.  It erases every line and wrinkle and works better than surgery for your under-eye puffiness and bags!!  If it were that easy, nobody would have crepey skin and puffiness around their eyes, right?!  It’s tempting to want to use an eye cream to fix the crepey skin around your eyes. After all, it’s cheap and easy.  Many of us see the first signs of age around their eyes. As the focal point of your face, it’s easy to understand why you’d want a quick fix.

Restylane Before and After Photos

So, why does the shape of your eyes and the skin around them start to change in your thirties and forties? Because it is the thinnest and most delicate skin pretty on your body!  Think about it: this fragile, delicate skin is exposed to the sun every single day. Because UV damage thins the skin by breaking down collagen and elastin, we often start to see lines, wrinkling and drooping in our eyelids before anywhere else.  When this aging happens, it will take more than a good, hydrating eye cream to save the day and make us look younger.

So, what can fix the crepey skin around your eyes. A combination of things tends to work the best. Yes, good skincare is the foundation, but you may also benefit from laser resurfacing to jump start your skin’s collagen and elastin-making capability. This procedure works the best to tighten, firm and thicken this delicate area, and it may be done without resurfacing or treating the entire face if you so choose.

Botox and Dysport injections are also helpful in reducing some of the muscle contraction around the eyes that trigger lines (frown) and creases (or crow’s feet). These injections are also used to lift and shape the brows. This doesn’t change the skin, but can make your eyes appear more open, awake and refreshed.

Lastly, injections of dermal fillers like Restylane and Juvederm can replace lost volume under the eye in the tear trough area. This helps brighten the appearance of dark circles while providing a stock pile of hyaluronic acid to improve the overall texture of your lower eyelid skin.

If you’re not a candidate for any of these treatments or if your eyelid skin laxity and/or changes around your eyes is advanced, then you may need a surgical procedure known as blepharoplasty to reshape and contour the skin and fat in both your upper and lower eyelids.

When considering these treatments, make sure you consult with an experienced practitioner who is well versed and familiar with each. Again, a combination of treatments is usually the way to go to get your eyes “smiling” again. And always remember to protect the delicate skin around the eyes with the proper medical-grade skin care, sunscreen and sunglasses every day.