Cosmetic Plastic Surgery Articles

Too many of us are familiar with the dark circles that can appear under our eyes following a restless night or two. For a surprisingly large portion of that group, however, those circles are a constant, not necessarily because they’re poor sleepers, but because they were simply born that way.

If you count yourself among them, you may have noticed that eye creams and serums only help so much. And that’s because the reason behind the circles’ presence is mostly genetic. Sure, the vicious cycle of tossing and turning at night and overcompensating with too much coffee during the day isn’t helping matters. But those under-eye circles really have more to do with the composition of your skin and the way the light reflects off your orbital bone.

“I didn’t start to notice the dark hollows until I got older, but my baby photos prove that I’ve had them since birth,” says Danielle Gray, a 37-year-old style and beauty writer, in an essay explaining why she got filler to treat her under-eye circles. “[W]hile my under-eye circles have never crippled my self-esteem, they have been hard to ignore, given my line of work.”

Fighting nature with a natural ingredient

If, like Danielle, you’ve only recently become fixated on your under-eye circles, it may be because they become more prominent as we age. Doctors refer to them as tear troughs. The skin around our eyes is thinner and paler and lacks the proper fat restores, so the indentations grow a little deeper, giving the eyes a more tired appearance.

Discouraging as that may sound, it’s actually fairly easy to remedy—in the right hands. With a small layer of precisely placed hyaluronic acid gel, the delicate skin is lifted up and away from the blood vessels under the eyes.

Hyaluronic acid is a natural part of the skin’s dermis, but it diminishes as we age, which causes the hollowing effect under the eyes. The filler helps pull water to the site of the injection, creating a plumper under-eye and a rejuvenated appearance.

The placement of the injections is critical. The filler needs to be planted quite deep so it isn’t visible under the delicate under-eye skin. (A topical numbing agent can be applied beforehand to ease any discomfort, and it’s a very small needle, so the injections are virtually painless.) Which makes finding a board-certified plastic surgeon with lots of experience with the procedure critical to a good outcome.

If the idea of getting injections around your eyes is still a bit daunting, lasers can also help with dark circles, especially if they’re caused by visible blood vessels.

‘Do what makes you happy’

“Once I was healed completely, I was in love,” Danielle says. “My dark hollows were gone and I was thrilled with the way I looked with and without makeup.”

Within a day or two of the hyaluronic acid treatment, your eyes will appear noticeably brighter—though the change will be subtle enough that you’ll be the only one able to spot the difference. That effect should last anywhere from six months to a year, depending on how quickly you metabolize the filler and the type that was used.

“Over the years, I’ve learned that you can use a little something to preserve your skin—whether it’s sunscreen, a chemical peel, or, in my case, under-eye filler,” Danielle says. “The key, in my opinion, is to make informed decisions about the choices you are making for you. Do your research and, ultimately, do what makes you happy.”

Sir John, the celebrity makeup artist whose clients include Beyoncé, Serena Williams, and Priyanka Chopra, recently went public with his decision to get microneedling and facial filler.

He was prompted, he said, to learn more about both minimally-invasive cosmetic procedures after Lifetime’s “American Beauty Star,” the show on which Sir John serves as a judge, first came out.

“I thought, Damn, I look so tired. When you see yourself from the outside, you start to look at yourself objectively,” Sir John told Refinery29. “For me, being on TV was like looking in a mirror, and I was very self-conscious about my eyes.”

He underwent microneedling first. Also known as collagen induction therapy, microneedling stimulates the body’s own natural healing response, dramatically improving skin tone and texture. The result is firmer, more radiant skin.

Microneedling suits all skin types and colors. It’s most often used to target:

• Wrinkles and fine lines
• Uneven skin tone
• Sun damage
• Acne scars and other types of scarring
• Enlarged pores

As we age, our skin’s ability to produce collagen naturally slows down. Microneedling helps replenish those stores. And unlike other treatments, it’s safe enough to use around the eyes, so it treats the entire face.

Soon after, Sir John underwent his first round of facial fillers.

“I only thought of [filler] to be one thing, which was going to make me look tight and plastic. But nowadays, there are so many conservative ways to use these ‘helpers,” as I like to call them,” he said.

“After I got the filler, I walked out … feeling like Superman,” he said. “We all have something we want adjusted, corrected, or revised. When that happens, it feels good and moves the needle emotionally. It changes our sense of wellbeing.”

Facial filler is an umbrella term that encompasses a nuanced range of injectables. The majority are made of hyaluronic acid, a safe sugar found naturally in the human body. Hyaluronic acid fillers act kind of like place holders, substituting for depleted collagen and fat.

Fillers made from other materials are known as biostimulatory fillers. They include Radiesse, which is made from a mineral found in our bones and teeth, and Sculptra, which uses poly-L-lactic acid, the same biodegradable component that’s used in absorbable stitches.

The main purpose of biostimulatory fillers is to spark the growth of your own collagen for longer-lasting fullness and lift. (Hyaluronic acid fillers have also been shown to increase collagen and elastin production over time, but to a lesser extent.)

“I didn’t have any reservations as a man—that’s the last thing that crossed my mind,” Sir John said of getting facial filler. “These things have absolutely no gender. I’m a beauty guy and [I’m] also around really strong women who impact real change all around the world. One thing I have always learned from women like Beyoncé and Serena is that they never allowed people to put them into a box.

“However, I was apprehensive because there are other cultural barriers to accepting something like filler,” he said. “We’ve grown up with so much toxic masculinity and stereotypes of machismo in the Spanish and black community, so I’m coming from a place that some might call rebellion or enlightenment—depending on who you ask.”