It is possible to carry out a lasting treatment on hollow circles under the eyes with hyaluronic acid. Although that will have little or no effect on the colour, it will have a superb effect on the overall look of the face, which will appear younger, less sad and more rested.
Technique:
The doctor uses a very fine needle (or sometimes a cannula) to inject very small amounts of hyaluronic acid in the hollows of the circles. We must use very little hyaluronic acid as it will progressively attract and so increase in volume in the following two to five months; which is why that personally I give this treatment in two sessions, two months apart – making up any shortfall – to avoid over-corrections.
Pain:
Curiously this is not a sensitive area. The treatment may appear impressive but is almost painless.
Durability of the results:
Very long! At least three to five years and very often it is the patient who becomes hollow whilst the hyaluronic acid has not moved! Why? Because around the circles, the body does not produce hyaluronidase, the enzyme which destroys hyaluronic acid, so it lasts for years. In six years of treating circles under the eyes, I have needed to re-treat only 5% of my patients.
Undesirable effects:
- The most common is bruising, which is usually small and differs between patients and doctors – women, especially those with pale skin, bleed more than men.
- The over-correction: too much product injected and we see a fold of flesh appear, which can be easily treated with hyalurondase injections which will dissolve the hyaluronic acid in less than 48 hours.
- The blue effect: sometimes the hyaluronic acid takes on a blue colour; it is very rare but if it happens, it needs only to be dissolved with hyalurondase.
- Irregularities: these appear in the first few days and remain on average from a few days to three weeks, then all returns to normal. You need to be patient, however, if it lasts more than a month then the practitioner should adjust it either by adding or dissolving some of the hyaluronic acid.
The treatment for circles under the eyes is delicate; not all doctors or surgeons practise it, so you need to find a practitioner who is experienced in this technique, but the results are really worth taking the trouble since it may need a re-touch only after several years.
