Wave goodbye to under the eye bags and wrinkles

17 Jun 2002

Removing fat and zapping skin cells combats ageing around the eyes, report US scientists.

Ophthalmologists from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), US, have developed an anti-ageing treatment for lower eyelids that combines laser skin resurfacing and fat removal.

According to UCSF's assistant professor of ophthalmology, Susan Carter, making an incision at the inner surface of the eyelid to remove the fat and then resurfacing the eyelid skin with a carbon dioxide laser eliminates excess skin and fine wrinkles.

"We found that almost 50% of people who only had fat removal, had an increase in wrinkles at the lower lid, despite 'smoothing' their fat bags," said Carter. "But patients that underwent fat removal and laser resurfacing saw a dramatic reduction in fat bags as well as wrinkles."

Carter also reports that the timing of the two procedures does not significantly affect the final result. The scientists are now developing laser-resurfacing techniques for upper eyelids.