What’s a girl to do if she hates her eye bags but is too chicken to go under the knife? TRACY LEE explores the non-surgical options for freshening up the under-eye area.
What’s a girl to do if she hates her eye bags but is too chicken to go under the knife? TRACY LEE explores the non-surgical options for freshening up the under-eye area.
If there’s one beauty fixation I have, it’s my #@?! eye bags. Puffy and as saggy as spent teabags, these suckers make me look older and more tired than I actually feel. I hate catching sight of my reflection in mirrored lifts because the harsh overhead spotlights illuminate my nose and eye bags, making the latter appear even worse as they cast sinister-looking, arc-shaped shadows down my mid-cheek. Over the years, they seem to have become more prominent – no matter what fancy eye creams, eyecials and massage gadgets my most well restedlooking friends recommend. And, believe me, I’ve tried a lot!
UNPACKING THE FACTS
Dr Ram Nath, medical director of aesthetic and medical services at The Wellness Clinic, explains that eye bags, composed of three separate fat pads enclosed in a crescent-shaped sac in the lower eye area, exist for a very good reason. “Babies are born with small eyeballs and huge eye sockets. In infancy, the eye bags cushion the eyeballs within the sockets while allowing for rapid growth. They shrink when we reach adulthood.” Unfortunately, some people just have more residual fat in their eye bags, and this could be hereditary, or due to your bone structure. “For example, Asian Orientals have smaller, shallower eye sockets. There’s less space for the eye bag to sit within the eye socket, so it gets pushed further out and is more obvious. Although this can occur with either sex and across all age groups, not everyone’s affected. That’s why a 20-year-old could have severe eye bags, while a 50-year-old might not,” Dr Nath points out. According to www.mayoclinic.org, “as you age, the tissue structures and muscles supporting your eyelids weaken. The skin may start to sag, and fat that is normally confined to the area around the eyes can move into the area below them.” As a cosmetic issue explained in medical terms, it’s basically a hernia – a renegade body part that has migrated from its original intended position.
PEOPLE AND THEIR PEEPERS
Dr KK Chew, medical director and founder of Nu.U Aesthetics & Wellness Clinic, claims that he developed a procedure called Non-incisional Laser Eyebag Rejuvenation (Niler) in 2008 as many patients were seeking a non-surgical solution to their eye bag problems. “The essence of this treatment involves the use of an interstitial laser called the Accusculpt laser,” he explains. “It performs two essential functions: lipolysis (the breakdown of fat) in the under-eye area as well as skin tightening. What’s more, the fibre optic laser is only 0.6mm thick, which makes scarless entry possible.” Dr Chew, who recently incorporated the use of a Hifu (highintensity focused ultrasound) device to treat the under-eye area immediately after the laser work to improve results, says the procedure is suitable for those with mild to moderate eye bags. “Post-procedure, you can expect swelling and occasional bruising over a few days,” he says. Other than that, it requires minimal downtime and is relatively free of complications. The downside: results last only a few years. Dr Nath does a similar nonsurgical procedure called TWC 3D Eyebag Removal that also involves the use of fibre optic lasers and Hifu. He spent a month in South Korea training and practising on more than a hundred patients there before introducing the service at his Singapore clinic. “Over the past five years, I have performed more than 500 of these procedures, or an average of three a week. I fine-tuned the process – from the number of times the laser fires to the exact temperature settings – in order to develop my own proprietary method,” he says. The TWC 3D Eyebag Removal works even on the most severe eye bags, and only needs to be done once for permanent results.
MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE
“Many people have no issue with wrinkles or grey hair,” says Dr Nath. “But they feel their eye bags shouldn’t be there in the first place – and wonder why they have them when friends of the same age don’t. They’re also bothered by the fact that the eye bags make them appear tired, even when they’re not. And then there are those who make assumptions about your lifestyle or character based on the size of your eye bags. For example, they might think you’re a party animal or a stressedout insomniac.” What makes the issue more complicated, says Dr Nath, is that many people don’t realise that other factors, aside from fat in your eye bags, could be behind that blearyeyed look. “It could be sunken tear troughs, water retention-related puffiness, allergies or lack of sleep, prominent eye band muscles, sagging under-eye skin or dark circles,” he says. All require different tailored solutions. “In relatively mild cases, where the eye bags are the result of volume-deficient tear troughs, a hyaluronic acid dermal filler may be injected to improve the condition as well as the appearance of eye bags. This can also be performed on those wanting to conceal dark circles,” Dr Chew advises.
“MANY PEOPLE HAVE NO ISSUE WITH WRINKLES OR GREY HAIR. BUT THEY FEEL THEIR EYE BAGS SHOULDN’T BE THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE.” – Dr Ram Nath, medical director of aesthetic and medical services at The Wellness Clinic
