What Causes Sagging Eyelids?
There are many factors that can cause sagging or droopy eyelids, but the main reason is usually age. Depending on the height of the eyelid, the position of the eyebrow, and the heaviness of the excess skin, sagging eyelids can be more or less severe. Bags, sagging, and dark circles can all be attributed to aging skin, as the skin around the eyelids becomes the thinnest skin on our bodies when we age.
Thin skin, constant blinking, and sun sensitivity cause this particular area of the skin to stretch with time and gravity. However, there are a few options you can pursue to prevent sagging eyelids or treat them before they become too severe.
How Your Eyes Look Different As You Age
Your eyes can change in many ways as you age, and these factors contribute the most:
- Dark circles: Hollowing skin and sagging cheeks can make dark circles and under-eye bags even more apparent over time. Some people also tend to deposit extra pigment into this area, causing dark circles.
- Excess skin: Excess skin causes sagging, wrinkles, and under-eye bags. Lifting the skin or creating new creases can greatly reduce the appearance of sagging.
- Fatty tissue deposits: Often presenting as puffy eyes, there could be large amounts of fatty tissue deposits in both your upper and lower lid, which is natural as the body ages. With time and gravity, the nerves, vessels, and muscles in the eye move forward and present as puffiness and eye bags.
- Weak eye muscles (ptosis): Ptosis is a weakness of the muscle that opens the eye, which can occur because of wearing long-term contact lenses, eyelid surgery complications, or rubbing your eyelids too often.
- Tear duct indentations: Tear trough indentations refer to the inner corner of your lower tear ducts and how it becomes more hollow and obvious as we age. This can cause involuntary watery eyes turning into tears and can be fixed with an eyelid surgery or brow lift.
Non-Surgical Preventative Measures for Sagging Eyelids
Hyaluronic acid fillers or injectables like Botox and Dysport can make you appear youthful with minimally invasive treatment types and little to no downtime. These fillers and injectables smooth out eye wrinkles, fill in hollows, and tighten sagging eyelids. If you’re looking for an at-home approach to preventative treatments, there are many remedies, such as putting tea bags on your eyes, that can soothe the eyes and prevent sagging.
Fillers
Hyaluronic acid fillers like Juvederm and Sculptra provide extra volume to hollowed-in areas of the cheeks and lower eyelids. Fillers are temporary and require injections over time, but can pair well with injectables to treat sagging eyelids without having you go under the knife.
Injectables
Using injectable products like Botox or Dysport can help tighten the skin and reduce eye wrinkles. Injectables can correct weakening muscles, crow’s feet, and smile lines. Botox can even lift the brow, taking some of the heavier folds of the upper eyelids and lifting them up.
Surgical Options For When Your Eyelids Start to Droop
Surgical options offer a more permanent solution to treat deeper signs of aging. You can address issues such as crow’s feet, sunken crevices, and structural issues around the eyelids.
Eyelid Surgery (Blepharoplasty)
Eyelid surgery helps to remove excess skin and fat from the upper and/or lower eyes, tightening your skin and smoothing out wrinkles.
Fat Removal
Fat removal helps give you a more dramatic result when compared to blepharoplasty, as it can also help treat under-eye bags. Although hollows may not be improved, removing excess fat around the eyes can help you appear less tired and more rejuvenated.
Fat Repositioning
If you want to treat signs of aging, hollows, and puffiness around the eyes, your best option is to choose fat repositioning. Your surgeon will use excess fat to their advantage to improve the hollows and contours of the eyes. Healing time and invasiveness will be more severe with this surgery, but you will also see more dramatic, youthful results.
Things to Avoid so Your Eyelids Don’t Sag
Sagging eyelids are most often caused by aging, as your body is producing less collagen. This causes your skin tissue to be unable to support the weight of your eyelids, but other factors can cause your eyelids to sag besides age. Before it’s too late, try to avoid:
- Smoking: Smoking accelerates the aging process, breaking down collagen and elastin in the skin. This leads to premature sagging and wrinkling of the eyelids. Quitting smoking can slow down the deterioration of your skin’s structure.
- Getting little sleep: Lack of sleep can cause fluid to accumulate under your eyes, leading to puffiness and dark circles. Consistently getting 7-9 hours of sleep can help maintain healthier skin and reduce the risk of your upper eyelids sagging.
- Unprotected sun exposure: UV radiation damages the skin’s collagen and elastin fibers, leading to sagging skin. Wearing sunglasses and applying sunscreen daily can protect your skin from these harmful effects.
- Missing doctor’s appointments: Health issues like thyroid dysfunction or untreated eye injuries can contribute to drooping eyelids. Regular check-ups and prompt treatment can prevent further damage.
- Being dehydrated: Dehydration can make your skin look dull and emphasize fine lines and sagging. Drinking plenty of water helps maintain skin elasticity and firmness.
- Forgetting to moisturize: Keeping your skin hydrated with a good moisturizer can prevent dryness and help maintain its elasticity. Use eye creams that target sagging and puffiness for added benefits.
At-Home Remedies to Address Eye Bags
When you’re younger or not yet experiencing sagging eyelids, there are still some at-home treatments you can do during your next self-care night that can prevent eye bags, sagging, and wrinkles.
- Put cucumber slices on your eyes: Cucumbers contain ascorbic acids, which reduce the look of sagging lids, decrease inflammation, and help tighten skin. Chilled cucumber slices on your eyes for 20 minutes can be relaxing and beneficial to your skin!
- Incorporate grapes into your diet: Grapes contain resveratrol, a natural element shown to slow down cell aging. Eating plenty of grapes helps your skin stay fine-line and droop-free.
- Buy some chamomile tea bags: Chamomile is anti-inflammatory, perfect for reducing the look of baggy or puffy eyelids and strengthening the skin. Steep two tea bags in water, cool them in your refrigerator for 15 minutes, and place on your eyes for 30 minutes.
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FAQ
Are there exercises I can do to prevent droopy eyelids?
Unfortunately, there are no exercises that can prevent droopy eyelids as our eyelids are moving quite rapidly all day long. The workout they get is often half the problem, as the constant movement can cause more fine lines. However, you can avoid rubbing your eyes or doing anything that would cause inflammation, such as not treating allergies or partaking in prolonged sun exposure.
When should I pursue eyelid surgery?
You should pursue blepharoplasty if you have noticed impacted vision due to drooping eyelids, lowered self-esteem because you want to look more youthful and vibrant, or as a treat to yourself if you want to enjoy more animated, lifted eyes that can enhance your natural beauty.
What are the main factors that cause skin to sag?
Aside from aging, other factors that contribute to baggy eyelids include:
- Smoking
- Lack of sleep
- Excessive sun exposure
- Thyroid dysfunction
- Eye injury, especially if left untreated
- Allergies
- Sinus Disease
