The Premiere Site For Celebrity Plastic Surgery By A Real Plastic Surgeon

I'm a Michigan-based Board Certified Plastic Surgeon who has been featured on Dr. 90210. The info here is my opinion alone and should not be taken as fact or as medical advice. I've not treated any of the celebrities presented here.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Do Eye Creams Really Work?




The Beauty Brains Blog has an interesting post called "Do Eye Creams Really Work?" This blog looks at various cosmetics from a scientific and chemist's point of view. Check it out here.

Do I think eye creams work? Yes... to an extent. Here is how I describe the three major causes (and treatments) of dark undereye circles:

1. Cause: thinning of the undereye skin, making it transparent and allowing the blood vessels underneath to be seen. Treatment: eye creams that thicken the skin, making it appear less transparent and smoother (such as Obagi's Elastiderm).
2. Cause: excess pigmentation (mainly seen in people with darker skin, not usually a concern in Caucasians). Treatment: creams with skin lightening agents.
3. Cause: shadowing from puffy bags under the eyes. Treatment: lower blepharoplasty surgery, which removes the fat that causes the puffiness and hence, the shadowing. Click here for before-and-after blepharoplasty photos.


Removing undereye wrinkles is not an easy task. Unfortunately, there is no 'magic bullet' even when surgery is involved that can make a wrinkled, droopy, puffy lower eyelid look perfect afterwards. If you are considering a lower eyelid blepharoplasty, make sure to avoid bargain-basement cosmetic surgeons, otherwise you may end up with an ectropion. Click here for the gruesome image of it (don't say I didn't warn you!).

Photo credit: beautybrains

Thanks for reading.
Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.




2 comments:

SmartLipo said...

I totally agree. When it comes to surgery, we should avoid "bargain-basement cosmetic surgeons". What's ectropion? *scared to look at the photo* lol

Anonymous said...

I had an under-eye TCA peel (35% I think) in early 2009, and while the results weren't permanent they were quite amazing. I wish I'd had a Botox session a week prior to the peel, and also kept up with my Botox injections, it would have made the peel results last longer. I'm considering another one. I'm 49 now.