A lifetime of laughter leaves us with smile lines and the infamous ‘crow’s feet’ around our eyes, which get deeper as we smile and stay there when we’ve stopped.

All of the expressions we’ve ever made make an impression on our skin, and the delicate tissue around the eyes is more susceptible than anywhere else to forming tiny lines that radiate outwards.

The constant contraction of the large muscle around the eye area means the overlying skin is repeatedly stretched and folded, until eventually the lines become permanent.

Causes of Crow’s Feet

There are several contributing factors that work together to make crow’s feet more pronounced.

Ultraviolet Light: Cosmetic Doctor will always advise you to wear a good sunscreen, with a particularly high SPF factor on your face. Ultraviolet light is also responsible for doing untold damage to collagen, the skin’s support system, and is very aging.

UVA light is the part of the light spectrum that can pass through glass, so you’re not safe sitting in a car or near a window for long periods of time unless you’re wearing a good SPF.

Squinting: Squeezing your eyes against any bright light worsens lines; be it in in the sunshine, at a movie theatre or in work light that’s a bit too intense.

Protective eyewear should always be worn outside, even if it’s cloudy-and the more of the eye area covered by sunglasses, the better.

Smoking: Possibly the worst thing you could do to your skin. It causes damage on several levels. The mechanical action of dragging on a cigarette causes wrinkles on the face.

The irritants in the smoke floating past our sensitive eyes makes us squint against it, and the toxic ingredients  of cigarettes break down our precious collagen. Smoking is the fastest way to Crow’s Feet and premature aging.

Life: All the facial expressions we make take a toll on the thin skin around the eye, and bright light, computer glare, laughing, crying and emoting will leave you with crow’s feet that get deeper with age.

Treatment for Crows Feet at Cosmetic Doctor

After a careful evaluation of your skin and examination of where your crow’s feet have formed, Cosmetic Doctor will recommend one of several solutions to you, or possible a combination of them.

Anti-wrinkle injectables such as botox will relax the large muscle around the eye area, allowing it to release the creases and folds, and to stop forming new wrinkles in the overlying skin.

Filling the existing wrinkles with dermal filler is a great option to improve the appearance of the lines around the eyes, and dermal fillers such as Juvaderm™, Restylane™ and Radiesse™ are available at the clinic.

Different dermal fillers are used for different areas of the face; the hyaluronic acid fillers tend to be softer whereas other fillers contain calcium microspheres and are massaged into place.

Dr. Fay will determine which filler, anti-wrinkle injectable or a combination thereof will work best for your crow’s feet, depending on how advanced they are and how far the lines radiate out from the corner of the eye.

Combination of Treatments for Crow’s Feet

Cosmetic Doctor may recommend use of treatments such as photo-rejuvenation, mechanical treatments such as microdermabrasion or chemical peels to refresh skin on the cheeks or temples.

These treatments are effective on most areas of the face, but the delicate nature of the skin around the eyes, as well as proximity to the eye itself means that they may not be suitable for lines next to the eye.

Call 01 685 3100 to book your consultation at Cosmetic Doctor at Slievemore Clinic today.