Blepharoplasty or eyelid surgery is the best solution to eye bag removal.
As you get older, the skin around your eyes deteriorates. Loose skin and excess fat can change your eyelid’s appearance, giving birth to eye bags. The solution? Eye bag removal.
Thanks to advances in cosmetic procedures, there are now many options for eye bag removal. However, if you are looking for a permanent solution, blepharoplasty is the best choice.
In this article, I’ll talk about eye bags and how you can have them removed.
Causes of Eye Bags
There are many reasons why eye bags appear. Aging is the most common.
Contrary to popular belief, ageing is not the only reason why eye bags appear and become more noticeable. Here are the causes of eye bags.
1. Age
Aging is the most common cause of eye bags. As you age, the skin under your eyes becomes less elastic and thinner.
The bony foundation under your eyes changes as well, allowing fat to go forward. Tear troughs, the hollow part under your eyes, also become deeper and more noticeable. The same thing happens to under eye wrinkles.
As a result, you develop eye bags. The fat sinks further, making your under eye look swollen. The older you get, the bigger your eye bags get.
2. Heredity
It’s also possible for you to inherit eye bags. Some families have more prominent eye bags than others. Hence, if eye bags run in your family, you will probably have them, too.
Heredity can also contribute to a condition called periorbital hyperpigmentation. This condition makes you predisposed to having dark circles. As you may well know, dark circles emphasize the presence of eye bags.
Moreover, some people are genetically prone to subluxation, which is the moving of fat under the eyeball to the front of the eye.
3. Ethnicity
Eye bags are more noticeable in people who have pale skin. It’s because a fair complexion cannot hide eye bags. Hence, when people with pale skin develop eye bags, they become prominent.
For this reason, Caucasians tend to have deeper, more noticeable eye bags compared to African Americans.
On the other hand, African Americans produce more pigment around the eye area. This can cause general darkening on the lids and under the eyes.
4. Smoking
When you smoke, your body gets exposed to free radicals.
Free radicals break down collagen and elastin in your skin― two substances that keep your skin tight and elastic. As a result, your skin sags and swells.
In addition, smoking robs you of vitamins that repair your skin. It also causes dehydration, which aggravates eye bags and dark circles.
On top of that, cigarettes contain nicotine, a chemical that can disrupt sleeping patterns.
5. Lack of Sleep
Your sleeping habits can also cause eye bags. This explains why your eye bags become bigger after staying up for more than 24 hours.
In particular, lack of sleep can cause fluid buildup under your eyes. As a result, your eye bags become bigger.
Lack of sleep also causes your skin to become dull and pale. This allows dark tissues and blood vessels under your skin to show.
6. Sun Exposure
Too much exposure to the sun causes your body to excessively produce melanin.
Melanin is a pigment that gives your skin pigment. Hence, too much exposure to the sun can cause the area surrounding your eyes to darken.
Excessive sun exposure can also make the skin under the eyes thinner. This causes dark circles and eye bags to become more visible.
7. Stress
When you are stressed, blood circulation in your eye area slows down. This allows blood to pool there.
Specifically, your thin blood vessels leak and stretch. The blood spreads out under the skin and oxidizes. This process leads to puffy eye bags and a dark purple hue over them.
In addition, more blood is directed away from your face, making it look pasty. Consequently, your eye bags become more visible.
8. Poor Diet
A poor diet can lead to eye bags as well.
To begin with, a diet mostly composed of sugar can cause inflammation. Since the skin under your eyes is thinner compared to other body parts, inflammation can aggravate your eye bags.
Salty food including canned goods can also make your eye bags swell. It’s because they have a lot of sodium in them. Excessive sodium can make you retain water, which aggravates your eye bags.
9. Allergies
When you experience allergies, your body releases histamine in response to it. Histamine then causes symptoms including redness, itchiness, and puffy eyes. It also makes your blood vessels dilate and become more visible.
In addition, allergies urge you to scratch and rub the skin around your eyes. This can worsen your dark circles and make your eye bags more prominent.
10. Dehydration
Not drinking enough water each day can worsen your eye bags.
When your body doesn’t receive enough water, the skin under your eyes starts to look dull. Your eyes become sunken as well.
Drinking alcohol also dehydrates your body. Hence, you might want to watch out how much and how often you drink.
Disadvantages of Having Eye Bags
Eye bags cause problems that can be solved through under eye bag removal.
Most people hate having eye bags for many reasons. Here they are.
1. Eye bags make you look tired.
Having prominent eye bags makes you look tired all the time, even if you are not actually tired.
If you have noticeable eye bags, people around you will often say that you look tired. Some of them might say that you lack sleep, despite sleeping a lot the night before.
2. Eye bags can stress you out.
What others say about our appearance can bring us down.
If someone says that you look unpleasant because of your eye bags, you might get hurt. As a result, you’ll keep thinking about your flaws, including your eye bags.
The constant thought of your flaws can stress you out. If going through eye bags removal surgery helps reduce your stress levels, go for it.
3. Eye bags can be a permanent problem.
Since most eye bags are caused by ageing and genetics. If not dealt with, they will be a permanent problem.
Eye cream and makeup, while somehow effective, are not permanent solutions to eye bags. Cream can slightly lighten your eye bags, but they will still be there. Makeup can conceal them, but they will remain.
Remember, a permanent problem needs a permanent solution.
4. Eye bags affect your self-confidence.
Looking at the mirror every day and seeing those prominent eye bags can affect your self-confidence.
If your career is mainly based on your appearance (e.g acting, modelling), eye bags affect your confidence to do your job.
As your self-confidence decreases, so does other people’s confidence in you. It’s because your confidence determines how other people see you.
Eye Bag Removal through Surgery
Removal of eye bags through surgery is the only permanent solution to your problem.
As I mentioned, eye bags caused by genetics and ageing are permanent.
While over-the-counter products somehow help, they cannot get rid of your eye bags. Blepharoplasty or under eye bag removal can.
What is Blepharoplasty?
Knowing how to get rid of eye bags help you explore your options.
Blepharoplasty is also known as eyelid surgery. As its name implies, blepharoplasty is a surgical procedure done on the eyelids to get rid of its problems.
There are two kinds of blepharoplasty. One is done on the upper eyelid (upper blepharoplasty). The other one is done on the lower eyelid (lower blepharoplasty).
While lower and upper blepharoplasty are done on distinct areas, the two procedures often complement each other. A complete blepharoplasty procedure enhances your eyes’ overall appearance, giving you that youthful glow.
At my clinic, blepharoplasty lasts for an hour to an hour and a half. It may take longer depending on your condition and the presence of other procedures.
Lower Blepharoplasty
Lower blepharoplasty is specially tailored to remove eye bags.
As I stated, lower blepharoplasty is done on the lower eyelid. In this section, I’ll explain how lower blepharoplasty or eye bag removal surgery is done.
During lower blepharoplasty, a fibrous layer called the orbital septum is opened. This is done to reveal the eye’s orbital fat pockets.
Since the eye bags develop because of fat pushing forward, I follow a conservative approach to fix it. Known as fat transposition, I immediately transfer the fat below the eyelid to the cheek.
However, fat transposition is usually done with fat removal in patients with bigger eye bags.
To improve the result, I use a canthopexy stitch to support the lower eyelid. This stitch is completely hidden. It dissolves a few weeks after the surgery.
Recovery
Recovery depends on many factors such as sleep and activity.
All of my patients’ eyesight return back to normal immediately after the surgery. They usually return home 30 minutes after the procedure. Many of them go back to work or school on the same day.
In addition, I use sedation anesthesia. It causes faster recovery compared to traditional anesthesia.
Though this rarely happens, you might have dry eyes after the procedure. However, it only lasts for a week.
Some bruising and swelling might be there as well. However, they will go away one to two weeks after the surgery.
There are a few things you can do to speed up recovery.
To start with, putting ice on the affected area for 10 minutes each day after the surgery can help reduce swelling.
Resting and taking things easy also helps. It’s because a low and stable blood pressure reduces the risk of worsening symptoms.
In addition, elevating your head while sleeping can help decrease bruising and swelling.
Removal of Eye Bags Without Surgery: Is It Possible?
Skincare products can somehow help. However, they are not a permanent solution to eye bags.
Many people think that skincare products can help remove their eye bags.
While over-the-counter products are somehow effective, they are not a permanent solution to your eye bags, especially for those caused by ageing and genetics.
Another notion is the use of fillers to remove eye bags.
Fillers can reduce the appearance of eye bags, but they are temporary. If you are looking for a permanent solution that is more cost-effective in the long run, I suggest going under blepharoplasty.
Blepharoplasty produces better and longer results. It can last up to a lifetime for older people who want their eye bags removed.
Is There a Clinic Doing Eye Bag Removal Near Me?
The Centre for Advanced Facial Cosmetic & Plastic Surgery offers eye bag removal in London.
Yes, there is. My clinic is located in Harley Street, London. We offer high-quality eye bag removal.
My techniques aim to give you the least pain and scarring possible. My clinic also offers patient support after the surgery to make your recovery as seamless as possible.
Conclusion
Having eye bags is one of the most common problems among ageing people. Some teens and young adults can have prominent eye bags, often are genetically predisposed to having them.
Eye bag removal can be a life-changing process that helps boost your confidence and work performance.
Looking for a permanent solution to your eye bags? Book a consultation now!
