Dark circles: definition and types

It is essential to distinguish between the different types of dark circles:

Sunken rings

Dark circles appear as a hollow under the eye, a valley that descends from the root of the nose to the cheekbone.

Hollow circles result from the disappearance of subcutaneous fat, a sign of advancing age. The skin of the lower eyelid is very thin, allowing the bony contours of the eye socket to show through.

Dark circles

Circles can be brown, bluish, purplish or even red, a coloring that accentuates the tired look in the same way as hollow circles.

Dark circles and puffiness

In most cases, dark circles are associated with puffiness, and the combination of the two aggravates the tired look: the more prominent the puffiness, the more hollow the circles appear.

As a result, the face appears doubly marked.

Dr Hayot’s different treatments for different types of dark circles

Performing a conventional blepharoplasty by pulling the skin and removing fat pockets can only aggravate dark circles by deepening the eyelids even further.

Filling dark circles with hyaluronic acid injections poses two problems:

• Hyaluronic acid does not absorb well into the dark circles, swelling over time as it absorbs water like a sponge and can form an unsightly pocket;
• The skin around the eyes is very thin, and hyaluronic acid can give the lower eyelid a bluish color (tyndall effect).

To determine the most suitable surgery for dark circles, several aspects need to be taken into account: the color of the circles, their surface area (limited to the lower eyelid or extending into the tear trough), and the presence of bags associated with the circles.

The treatment of choice is fat injection (micro-lipostructure or lipofilling). The results are definitive and very natural: fat grafting is a perfectly logical and appropriate response to the mechanism responsible for hollowing – the melting of fat from the lower eyelid.

Dark circles are treated with a recent method: nano-lipostructure, an injection of stem cells and growth factors derived from the patient’s own fat to mask the discoloration.

In the case of puffiness associated with dark circles, the surgeon treats both indications simultaneously: he flattens the puffiness to bring it level with the bony rim without hollowing out the eyes too much, and fills in the dark circles in the same operation.

Dark circles treatment results

This technique also has the advantage of being able to effectively combat the discoloration that dark circles can take on. In fact, the light yellow color of the fat injected under the skin will attenuate the hyperpigmentation of the dark circles.

Rates for the treatment of dark circles by Dr Hayot