Hooded Eyes

I'm looking for a non-invasive treatment for the upper eyelids. Is Tixel an option, or plasma? Any info on plasma eye lift?

Hiya TTG editor Georgia here. Tixel – yes, in the right hands it's safe for use on the upper lids and gets brilliant results on hooded eyes. Plasma – we would advise you to be very careful – or even better, completely avoid – traditional plasma pen-type treatments and look into Neogen nitrogen plasma instead. It's a far more sophisticated, modern device that is much safer. We've seen some excellent skin-tightening and brow-lifting results on the upper lids. There will be various factors to consider when deciding which is right for you, so have a consultation with a couple of practitioners to find out....

I’m considering an upper blepharoplasty – can you tell me how long it took for you to recover and when were you able to go out in public? Is the scarring easy to conceal whilst it’s healing? What do you recommend for this? Did you sleep...

Hi, the full recovery takes about two weeks, with stitches out after one week. The more you can rest in that first week, the faster you recover. I didn't sleep upright in a chair, just propped up in bed on a few pillows to reduce swelling. I went out and about after four days – with glasses on (can't wear contacts for a couple of weeks) and a hat and it didn't bother people, though I didn't put myself in front of close friends. Once the stitches are out the scarring is minimal and heals fast.

I'm thinking of having a skin-tightening procedure (non-surgical) and I'm looking at two devices: Ultracel and Sofwave. I would be interested in hearing which one you would prefer. The areas of concern I have are upper eyelids and submental chin.

Hiya, TTG editor Georgia here. They're both great treatments but slightly different – Sofwave is a newer technology that uses its own, patented type of ultrasound delivery and just works at the level of the skin and is great across the forehead and just under the brow, while ULTRAcel Q+ is a HIFU device. It can also be used to define the structure of the jawline by deliberately targeting fat tissue as well as lax skin, if that is what you're after for the area under the chin. Find out more about both on those links....

Hello, I've found the ebook on hooded eyes very informative, much appreciated! I have been researching blepharoplasty. It's just my left eye so I Iook quite lopsided and have a heavy dragging feeling and watering. A few questions before I pay for a...

Hi, any surgeon will want to treat both eyes, even if they are treating both differently, in order to make them balanced and 'reset' them to the same level, as it were (if you were to have just one eye done, it will soon start to look younger/ fresher/ better adjusted than the one that wasn't treated). Most eye surgeons do the procedure under sedation, so you are unaware of what's going on but you are still breathing for yourself (as opposed to general anaesthetic, where you have a tube down your throat), and you recover quickly and can go home the same day. Hope that helps.

Hello, I'm in my mid-40's with increasing sagging (mainly drooping upper eyelids, jowls and marionette lines). I've had three Ultherapy procedures at a highly-regarded clinic over the past five years to lift and tighten my face and neck. The last...

Hi, I'm sorry to hear that you had no improvement from your last Ultherapy treatment – surgeons are not keen on it as, in pursuit of the skin, it can (as one put it to me), 'mash up' the layers under the skin which makes it more difficult for surgeons to work on – not impossible but it makes their job trickier. They see the same result from treatments like radiofrequency microneedling (Morpheus8 et al) though many surgeons will still use RF microneedling for non-surgical tightening as it is a safe and effective treatment for the right candidate. Thread lifts can reposition sagging jowls, but if cosmetic surgeons don't like...

I have noticed I have uneven eyes when I laugh/ smile in photographs. Is there anything non-invasive I can do to fix this?

Hiya, TTG editor Georgia here. You could try a home-use device like the NuFACE Mini Facial Toning Device. Alice has personally found it to give a great (albeit temporary) lifting effect to the facial muscles, and it’s safe and small enough for use around the eyes and on the brow bone. It uses low-level electrical microcurrent, and with continued use it may start to ‘retrain’ those muscles to hold a more permanent lift. If you did at some point decide to go down the tweakments route, I had some toxin carefully placed to ‘lift’ one of my eyes (one of my brows sits slightly lower than the other and I have more hooding on that eyelid)...

Hello, I am 48 and really starting to look old, especially when I look at photos. What do you recommend as the most effective way to look fresher and better without toxin or filler? Is it HIFU or profound or another treatment? Or would I really need...

Hiya, TTG editor Georgia here. Dr Strawford will be best placed to answer all these questions for you once he's assessed your face and talked to you about your exact concerns. He is an expert practitioner with a great deal of experience. The tweakments you mention – HIFU, Profound (RF microneedling), toxin, and filler – all do different things that work towards making you look fresher and younger, but not in the same ways. Toxin for example won’t do anything about sagging skin but HIFU will, Profound will stimulate collagen production to tighten and plump the skin, but won’t replace lost volume in the ways filler will. So it all...

I'm having Forma at a clinic, what can I do to carry on the treatment at home? My main concern is eye bags and hooded eyes. I'm 42 not ready to go down the surgery route. Thank you 🙂

Hiya, TTG editor Georgia here. As Forma is a radiofrequency treatment that works deeper under the skin, there’s nothing you can do to – or need to do – at home, apart from following your aftercare advice. Just let it do its job and consider a maintenance treatment every year or so after your initial course.

Hi Alice, I am keen to look into getting my eyelids assessed to see if anything can be done for hooded eyelids. I live on the West coast of Scotland and wondered if you could recommend a reputable and skilled individual who I could go to please?...

Hiya, TTG editor Georgia here. The Tweakments Guide is all about non-surgical procedures, so I'd advise first having a consultation with one of the many great non-surgical practitioners we have listed in Scotland before deciding to definitely go down the surgical route. If you look on our practitioner page, you can put in your postcode and find out who is nearby that Alice and I trust to advise you well. If you would in fact be better off with surgery (which is often the case with hooded lids and eye bags), they will be able to refer you onwards to a surgeon.

Hello, how effective is Caci Synergy to lift the eye area, in your view? I seem to have more of an ‘overhang’ from the brow rather than hooding as such, with one side more pronounced than the other. I am 72. Thanks for your help and website.

Hi, it's a great treatment but you need an awful lot of it (like, a dozen sessions) to see much lifting and the older we get, the harder it is for our skin to show much lift. You might well get some help from a course of sessions of CACI Synergy but I wouldn't expect miracles.

Hi Alice, I have hooded eyes and under-eye wrinkles. I recently had my first dose of toxin on the crow's feet area, which I've been impressed with, but I don't think this can be done close to the eyes, so what could I try to help under the eyes? Any...

Procedures that give good results for those small wrinkles under the eye include laser and radiofrequency microneedling. Laser can also be used on hooded eyelids, as can types of plasma treatment such as Plexr. These don't give as full or definite a result as a surgical eyelift but they can certainly make a difference. For skincare, take a look at some of my favourite eye creams....

Hi, I'm wondering what you think of plasma fibroblast for the eyelids?

All those non-surgical plasma treatments for hooded eyes really scare me (all those tiny burns! All that potential damage!) but my doctor and surgeon pals who use it say it is a great tool – and in their hands, really experienced, expert hands, I am sure that it is. I would not want it done by anyone who wasn't a highly qualified aesthetic practitioner.

Hi Alice, what is your opinion on Plexr for upper lids?

Plexr rather alarms me (all those tiny burns! All that potential for damage!) but my doctor and surgeon pals who use it say it is a great tool – and in their hands, the right hands, I am sure that it is. Find someone who knows the treatment well and does it a lot and you'll be fine.

You’ve had blepharoplasty, Alice. Can I ask what age you were when you had your first treatment? How long did the results last? I know you had it done recently again. Can I ask who your practitioner was please?

Hello, yes I had blepharoplasty 10 years ago with Mr Naresh Joshi who was and remains the go-to-expert in this speciality. I was 49 then and would have benefitted from having done it a bit earlier, to be honest; I've got those sort of eyelids. In terms of how long the results last, it depends on your face/ genes/ lifestyle. Surgery like this resets the clock in terms of how your eyelids are ageing, but it doesn't stop ageing in its tracks forever. Last year I had another upper blepharoplasty, done in conjunction with with a ptosis correction to correct the drooping in my left eyelid (which was something I'd been aware of for 15 years, but it...

Do you know of an eye surgeon in Scotland that could treat my hooded eyelids? If malar bags could be addressed too, that would be even better.

Hiya, TTG editor Georgia here answering on Alice's behalf. I'd advise first having a consultation with one of the many great non-surgical practitioners in Scotland before deciding to definitely go down the surgical route. If you look on our practitioner page, you can put in your postcode and find out who is nearby that Alice and I trust to advise you well. If you would in fact be better off with surgery (which is often the case with hooded lids and eye bags), they will be able to refer you onwards to a surgeon.

I am 43 and have very crepey eyelids. What is the best hydrating serum to use? Should I consider a blepharoplasty?

In terms of products, use any you like - you can find a selection of my favourite eye creams/ serums here. Skincare can only do so much though. It won't tighten eyelid skin significantly and a blepharoplasty may be necessary to get any real results, especially if the eyelids are very lax, as you say. The only way to know what's best for you is to have a consultation with a surgeon. Look for an oculoplastic surgeon who specialises in eyes and is very experienced in blepharoplasties (search 'oculoplastic' on this site for the ones that are listed here). Laser treatment around the eyes and across the eyelids will tighten the skin but...

I chicken out of eye surgery for now, can you suggest anything else I can do for eye lids other than surgery?

Hi, there are a few treatments you could try to tighten the skin on the eyelids and around the eye area. None of these will give as quick, clean or definitive a result as eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty) but they could help. Ping, a radiofrequency skin-tightening protocol put together by Dr Sach Mohan, which is specifically designed for non-surgical skin tightening around the eye Laser skin tightening, with a fractional laser - practitioners including Dr Maryam Zamani can offer this with the Sciton laser, other practitioners will have their own favourites. You do need to wear intra-ocular shields for this procedure, which are like...