How do I remove dark circles?

Why do I have red circles?

Red or brown circles should not be confused with hollow circles. The latter are the direct consequence of the age-related loss of volume in the skin. Fat loss causes the skin to sag, hollowing the area and revealing the orbital bone.

Red circles do not form a hollow under the eyelid, but they do change its colour. As the skin of the eyelid is very thin, it allows the blood vessels of the orbicularis muscle to show through. In this sense, red circles are very similar to blue circles, except that they are also linked to hyperpigmentation of the skin, which is more common in populations with a darker phenotype.

What causes dark circles to appear?

Many factors can lead to the appearance of dark circles. A genetic component plays a major role, as the quality and the thickness of the skin vary from one individual to another. Skin ageing can also affect the colour of the lower eyelids. With age, the skin loses collagen and elastin. It then dehydrates and slackens as the fat melts away. The eyelid skin becomes even thinner, which makes the blood vessels more apparent.

The appearance of dark circles also depends on lifestyle. A sedentary life, lack of sleep, alcohol consumption and smoking can all have a detrimental effect on blood circulation. Poor vascularisation gives the blood a darker, more visible hue.

Lipofilling to remove dark circles

Aesthetic medicine long struggled to offer effective treatments for dark circles. There is, however, a minimally invasive technique that is intended to ensure lasting results: lipofilling. This treatment involves autologous fat grafting, using the patient’s own fat. Adipocytes, or fat cells, are extracted with a cannula, then defibrosed and cleaned. A meticulous filtering process purifies the fat and makes it more fluid, so that it can be injected into the eyelids.

As part of a treatment for red circles, Dr Hayot performs a variant of lipofilling: nano-lipofilling, a recent technique that comes from regenerative medicine. The fat is first extracted, as in standard lipofilling. It is then passed through several sieves to separate the adipocytes from the stem cells. The stem cells, together with the growth factors naturally present in adipose tissue, are concentrated before being injected into the eyelids.

Unlike lipofilling, nano-lipofilling has no volumising effect. The injected cells have regenerating properties: they stimulate the skin and induce neocollagenesis, the new production of collagen. The dermis gradually thickens and tightens, and skin quality improves markedly. Nano-lipofilling creates a masking layer over the dark circle, which becomes less and less visible until it disappears completely.

Nano-lipofilling offers a host of advantages. The results are striking, as nano-lipofilling is one of the effective treatments for red circles. The fat is taken from the patient’s own body, so the risk of allergy or rejection is virtually non-existent. Side effects are also very rare.