last week i attended a two-day seminar on plastic surgery at the cedars-sinai medical center here in the beverly hills area. it was excellent. we had terrific speakers from various sub-specialties including facial plastic surgery general plastic surgery ophthalmic plastic surgery and cosmetic dermatology. one of the more interesting subjects was how we surgeons now view the treatment of the aging lower eyelids. because of the stellar performance of filling solutions such as restylane juvaderm perlane sculptra radiesse and artefill we are exploring new roles for these products. the sense now is that we can be more conservative about taking out the extra fatty tissue of the lower eyelids. one reason is that often the fat bag prominence is partly due to shrinkage of the fat over the cheek bones just below the lower eyelid fat bag. so the contrast between the bulging of the fat and the flatness of the adjacent cheek tissue renders the fat more visible and unsatisfactory. consequently many surgeons are evaluating the appearance that follows after merely using filling injections along the lower rim of the orbital bone. in other words the hill doesn’t look so high when you fill the adjacent valley. for many patients that is all they need. some patients will still need a chemical skin peel or laser treatment to help tighten the lower eyelid skin’s fine lines or wrinkles. others have darkness of the skin which is the most difficult problem and our scientific artillery is not yet good enough consistently for that although there are some new bleach creams that seem promising. i enjoy attending these continuing medical education seminars because we collectively are probing and searching — always — for better and safer treatments for patients. such is the history of all medical practice for thousands of years. remember “science never sleeps. ”
what new procedures are being considered for bags under the eyes?