Have you looked in the mirror and thought ‘why do my eyes look so wrinkly and tired’. As many beauty treatments and even aesthetic treatments cannot be used under the eye they can be incredibly difficult to treat. These wrinkles, also known as “laugh lines” or eye bags” can be caused by a variety of factors including genetics, sun exposure, smoking, and repetitive facial expressions. If you’ve been wondering ‘why are my eyes so wrinkly?’, buckle in because in this article, we’ll discuss what under eye wrinkles are, why they occur, and how you can prevent and treat them.
What are Under Eye Wrinkles?
Under eye wrinkles are lines that form underneath the eyes in the tear trough. These lines can be deep or shallow, and they typically become more noticeable with age. They are caused as the collagen and elastin of the skin under the eye starts to weaken often due to natural ageing or prematurely due to excess UV exposure, smoking or pollution.
As is often said the eyes are the windows to the soul and are involved in a great deal of facial expressions such a smiling and frowning. If the collagen fibres are weaker the elasticity in the undereye is gone and these repetitive movements start to leave a residual impression.
Why are my eyes so wrinkly?
Under eye wrinkles occur due to a variety of factors, including:
- Aging: As we age, the skin around our eyes becomes thinner and less elastic, making it more susceptible to wrinkles. As we age the hyaluronic acid in our skin starts to decrease and this leads to a dryness in the under eye that makes wrinkles appear more prominent.
- Sun Damage: Exposure to the sun’s harmful UV rays increase free radical production which is like a wrecking ball to your collagen and reducing your skin’s elasticity and makes it become more prone to wrinkles.
- Smoking: Smoking does the same and destroys the collagen and elastin fibers in the skin, leading to wrinkles.
- Repetitive Facial Expressions: Repeatedly squinting, frowning, or smiling can cause wrinkles to form around the eyes. This is less of a problem when the skin is young and healthy but as collagen degrades these movements leave an impression.
- Mechanical stress: The skin under the eyes is very thin and as minimal elasticity even when its young and healthy. Repetitive rubbing due to allergies or a bad boyfriend or treating is harshly taking off your makeup can cause it to become weaker and more wrinkly earlier.
Do you get wrinkly eyes when smiling?
In the interest of covering all bases although this article is mainly about under eye wrinkles I also wanted to touch on wrinkles that come about when smiling. These are termed the ‘crows feet’ and occur for the same reasons as under eye wrinkles. The difference between under eye wrinkles and crows feet is that crows feet can be pretty simple to solve using Botox but under eye wrinkles are a lot more challenging and need a multi modal approach.
How Can You Prevent Under Eye Wrinkles?
While under eye wrinkles are a natural part of the aging process, that doesn’t necessarily mean that we want to have them and so there are ways to prevent and minimize their appearance. Now if the wrinkles are significant these may be a bit like ‘shutting the door once the horse ha bolted’ but it wouldn’t do any harm to give them a try.
- Protect Your Skin from the Sun: Wear sunscreen and avoid prolonged exposure to the sun. I personally believe that a lot of eye wrinkles I see are as people are worried about SPF stinging and don’t apply it effectively. Make sure you take it up to the lash line and onto your eyelids
- Quit Smoking: If you smoke, quitting can help prevent further damage to your skin.
- Stay Hydrated: Help your skin be as moisturised as possible and drink plenty of water to keep your skin hydrated and plump.
- Be gentle around the eyes: Try using eye drops to help with allergies and don’t rub your eye make up off with rough movement.
How Can You Treat Under Eye Wrinkles?
So for the reason that you’ve read this far. What can we actually do about under eye wrinkles. The good new is something, the bad news is it isn’t easy. The tear trough and under eye area is a very complicated bit of the face and is not for the new injector or beautician. I don’t lecture often but please seek the advice of a medical professional as I’m pretty sure an eye patch isn’t on this list of solutions but is what yo’ll need if you go blind because you trusted someone who didn’t know what they are doing:
- SkinCare: Most eye creams are a complete waste of money ( I am talking to you Elemis and Creme de la Mer). They do nothing to the skin other than to ‘hydrate’ the skin and make is appear less wrinkled. If you want to improve the look of wrinkles you need to be using an eye cream with active ingredients and the one ou want to look for is Bakuchiol. This wonder ingredient is converted to retinol in the skin and can really help improve the look of lines and wrinkles.
- Injectables: Now this is a tricky point. Botox can be use in a few cases to smooth out the under eye area UT your skin needs to still be fairly elastic. However, tear trough filler is NOT the solution to your under eye wrinkles. Instead look for skin boosters that can be used under the eye to add hyaluronic acid and increase hydration to that area. The multiple injections required will also cause a micro needling type effect and stimulate your body to start producing its own collagen, hylauronic acid and elastin
- eyeTITE: this is our new signature innovative treatment program that combines RF micro needling and chemical resurfacing of the eye are to treat all the layers of the under eye from the superficial skin right down to the muscle and fat layer. Learn more here
- Laser Treatments: If you have the right skin type (Fitzpatrick 1-3) aser treatments can help stimulate collagen production and reduce the appearance of under eye wrinkles. Just make sure its done as a doctor because, you know, that blindness I mentioned earlier
- Surgery: In severe cases, surgical procedures like blepharoplasty may be necessary to remove excess skin and reduce the appearance of under eye wrinkles.
In conclusion, under eye wrinkles are a common concern for many people, but there are ways to prevent and treat them. By protecting your skin from the sun, quitting smoking, staying hydrated, and using skincare products with active ingredients, you can help prevent under eye wrinkles from forming. If you already have under eye wrinkles, there are many treatments available, just make sure that you seek the advice of a medical professional as this area can be tricky and the risk of complications can be high in the wrong hands
