Dark Eye Circles Treatment in Scottsdale
Also serving Phoenix
Dark circles under your eyes are a common cosmetic concern that many patients struggle with. While lack of sleep is a common cause of dark, puffy circles, there are many more factors at play. The aging process tends to cause a hollowing effect underneath your eyes, which in turn leads to dark circles. In some people, the fat pockets may protrude into the areas beneath the eyes, leading to eyelids bags and/or causing a shadow affect or dark circles.
Regardless of the cause of your dark circles, Dr. Ghafouri offers a comprehensive cosmetic solution. He is an expert in eyelid surgery and minimally invasive procedures and surgeries to treat dark undereye circles.
What Causes Dark Circles Under Your Eyes?
The most common causes of dark circles underneath the eyes include:
- Lack of sleep
- Thin or weakened skin
- Allergies
- Volume loss/hollowing of the lower eyelid
- Protruding fat pockets
- Hyperpigmentation of the skin
- Genetics
- Medical conditions such as thyroid disorder
The skin underneath your eyes is unique — that area of skin is particularly thin and vascular. A poor night’s sleep causes your blood vessels to dilate and expand. Add dilated blood vessels on top of thin under-eye skin, and dark circles are likely to appear.
Allergies may cause inflammation in the blood vessels underneath your eyes. Once swollen, these small blood vessels press against the thin skin underneath your eyes and give the appearance of dark circles. Allergies may also cause fluids to gather around your eyes, leading to puffy or swollen bags.
Volume loss (hollowing of the lower eyelid) is another common cause of dark circles. As you age, your face naturally loses volume. This loss of volume at the eye socket along with the descent of the cheeks results in a tear trough deformity — this leads to a dark “shadowing” effect that gives your face a fatigued appearance. Lastly, protruding fat pockets beneath the eyes may cast shadows that look like dark circles.
In some people, dark circles appear at a very young age. This is hereditary and more common among certain ethnicities.
Different Treatment Options for Dark Circles
Depending on the cause of your dark circles, Dr. Ghafouri will recommend one or more of the following procedures.
Injectable Fillers
If your dark circles are the result of volume loss, you may consider a minimally-invasive procedure that uses injectable dermal fillers. Injectable fillers temporarily restore natural-looking volume and fullness — this can smooth out the transition between the lower eye area and upper cheek and reduce the illusion of dark circles. Injectable fillers require only a single in-office visit and little to no recovery time.
Typically, dermal fillers last anywhere from nine months to one year. Hyaluronic acid (HA) fillers are the most common type of fillers used.
The filler procedure requires a single in-office visit. During your initial consultation, Dr. Ghafouri will examine you to make sure you are a good fit for injectable fillers. To begin, he will apply a local anesthetic to your face. The injection procedure does not cause significant discomfort and is usually completed in less than an hour. You may expect some swelling and bruising over the course of the next day or two — you should be able to return to your normal daily activities almost immediately.
Blepharoplasty
Dr. Ghafouri may also recommend lower blepharoplasty, which is a surgical outpatient procedure. During this procedure, your doctor will reposition or remove pockets of excess fat from around your eye area. In some cases, you may need fat grafting to restore sufficient volume to the area under the eyes. With the fat pockets removed or repositioned, your dark circles will be considerably less noticeable.
Once the area is anesthetized by administering the local injections, your oculoplastic surgeon will make incisions along the lower eyelid and remove or reposition fat pockets. Depending on the extent of your treatment, Dr. Ghafouri may opt to spread some of the fat into other areas around your eyes — the tear trough groove is a common place for this to occur.
Following surgery, you will need to recover for 7 to 14 days before resuming normal activities. Swelling, bruising and other aftereffects will subside significantly after approximately two weeks.
Laser Skin Rejuvenation and Radiofrequency Microneedling
The skin of the upper and lower eyelids the thinnest skin in your body. This is the first place in the face that shows the signs of aging. As we get older we lose elastin and collagen in the skin, making it thin and appear “crepe-y.” At Arizona Oculoplastic Specialists, we offer a number of non-invasive procedures that promote elastin and collagen formation resulting in improvement in skin quality. Remember, you cannot improve the skin quality with surgery.
Fractionated CO2 laser skin resurfacing is the gold standard for elastin and college production for the right candidate. In addition, we offer the latest radiofrequency microneedling procedures with or without stem cell injections to rejuvenate the delicate skin around eyes. The aforementioned non-invasive procedure can be combined with surgery to achieve the best results.
Skin Bleaching, Chemical Peels and Allergy Treatments
If you suffer from hyperpigmentation, Dr. Ghafouri may recommend skin bleaching, or other physician-grade skin care products individualized to your specific needs. In many cases, treatment for hyperpigmentation is combined with other aesthetic procedures such as intense pulsed light (IPL) treatments or microneedling with platelet-rich plasma (PRP).
A chemical peel may be used to treat discoloration underneath the eyes. Chemical peels reveal younger, tighter skin by causing the outer surface layers to peel off — this process promotes collagen formation for tighter skin underneath your eyes.
In the event that allergies are the cause of your dark circles, it’s recommended that you see an allergist for specialized treatment options. If allergies are the cause of your dark circles, it’s important to avoid any surgical or non-surgical treatment — you’ll want to treat the cause of allergies first and foremost.
Are Dark Circle Treatments Right For Me?
If the cause of your dark circles is lack of quality sleep or allergies, cosmetic solutions may not be ideal. Dr. Ghafouri’s treatments are ideal for anyone suffering from facial volume loss, hyperpigmentation, thin skin or protruding facial fat pockets.
Contact Us to Learn More About Dark Circle Treatments
If you’re interested in learning more about treatments for dark undereye circles, please feel free to contact our office for more information. With Dr. Ghafouri, you will receive the care and treatment you deserve. Our office will work directly with you to craft a custom treatment plan tailored to your specific needs.
We also offer several financing options so patients can pay for their cosmetic surgery in low, affordable monthly payments. Speak to a member of our team to learn more about our financing options.
To learn more about eyelid surgery and the financing options we offer, schedule an appointment with us. Contact Arizona Oculoplastic Specialists by calling today!
