Sagging eyelid skin can be a cosmetic and medical concern. Depending on the severity of your condition, Botox can help. An injection of the neurotoxin in your forehead and around your eyebrows can effectively treat a brow that droops slightly and minor sagging skin of the eyelids.
Sometimes Botox can help with hooded eyes, but not always. If you have significant sagging and drooping upper lid skin that affects the vision, you need something else. The bottom line is no injectable will tighten drooping and sagging skin permanently. The only option in this situation is upper eyelid surgery.
Botox can cause a range of side effects, including droopy eyelids. Botox works by freezing specific muscle groups to reduce unconscious movements and minimize the development of fine lines and wrinkles.
Yes, Botox can cause droopy eyelids if it is injected in the wrong place or if too much is used. Because Botox is a muscle relaxing toxin, if it is injected into the muscles that hold the eyelids or eyebrows up, then this can cause the muscles that pull the eyelids down to be more emphasised.
This means that if you inject the upper eyelid, the orbicularis oculi muscle, anterior to the tarsal muscle, with 1-3 units of Botox®, it can lift a drooping eyelid by a millimetre or so.
To accomplish this, BOTOX may be injected into the outer corners of the brows and the area between the brows, known as the glabella. This technique aims to force the relaxation of the muscles that are responsible for drooping brows, creating the illusion of a raised upper lid.
Thankfully, you can now lift your eyelids without surgery using minimally invasive methods that require no large incisions and involve minimal downtime, low cost, and no hospital stay.
Typically, an oculoplastic surgeon may prescribe an average dose of 12 to 24 Botox units for treatment around and under the eyes.
Eyelid ptosis is most commonly seen from inappropriate placement of botulinum toxin. This specific complication can be avoided by staying at least 2‐3 cm above the supraorbital margin or 1.5‐2 cm above the eyebrow while injecting into the frontalis.
When Botox is applied to problem areas around the eyebrows, the muscles relax and the skin on top of them becomes smoother. The muscles around the eyebrows are pulled upwards, elevating the eyebrows and making a patient's eyes appear more open. Patients are thrilled to find they look alert, peppy, and rested.
Botox injections in the crow's feet can help address under-eye bags as well, but similarly to laser treatments, they will only address the surrounding skin and won't get rid of the bags themselves.
If you only have slight hooding, or if you aren't ready to commit to surgery, you may want to start with a BOTOX brow lift. Injections of BOTOX in the brow and forehead relax the muscles pulling them downward. This allows the brows to naturally lift upward, making the tissues above the eyes a bit tauter.
Hooded eyes can be corrected with blepharoplasty, a type of surgery that involves the removal of excess skin, muscle, and fat from your eyelids. Aside from improving the appearance of your eyelid area, this surgical procedure can also improve your visual function by removing the extra skin.
Drooping of the eyelid is called ptosis. Ptosis may result from damage to the nerve that controls the muscles of the eyelid, problems with the muscle strength (as in myasthenia gravis), or from swelling of the lid.
Adults get ptosis – called involutional ptosis – when the levator muscle stretches and separates from the eyelid. This can be caused by aging, as a result of an eye injury, or sometimes as a side effect of certain eye surgery. Occasionally other diseases can affect the eyelid muscle, causing ptosis.
As individuals grow older, the muscles that support the eyebrows may lose tone and start to sag . As the eyebrows droop, they push down on the soft tissue and fat that covers the eye socket, creating a hooded effect over the eyelid.
While it may sound like science fiction, the FDA-approved eye lifting drop is real: UPNEEQ® is a prescription eye drop that temporarily improves droopy eyelids, or ptosis, with a single daily dose.
Yes, you can, retinol is able to work on the upper and lower eyelids and areas of skin. This is because it can penetrate the lower layers of the skin and boost collagen production. This will result in the skin around the eye will become tightened with signs of sagginess, fine lines, and wrinkles visibly reduced.
Completing the Procedure
For most patients, between 4-8 units is common for the outer brow and 20-30 units on average for the area between the eyebrows. Additional units may be used if there are other areas of your face you want to focus on.
Brows or eyelids that feel heavy after a Botox injection, having trouble to fully open the eyes, and droopy eyelids or brows — these are all signs of ptosis. Ptosis is when the eyelids or brows droop because of congenital muscle disorders, injury or trauma, age, and nerve and connection problems around the eyes.
The good news is that since the effects of Botox are temporary, so is ptosis. While Botox lasts for 3-4 months, ptosis usually will only last for several weeks. Most cases of eyelid ptosis self-correct far quicker than the forehead wrinkles reappear.