Dark Circle Treatment

What causes dark circles?

The underlying pathophysiology behind the dark circle. 
Eyelid skin is the thinnest of the body skin. There is a combination of factors that can attribute to dark circles. That varies from pigmented deposits around the eyelid skin to loss of bony volume with aging to lower eyelid saggy wrinkled skin that creates shadows around the eyes leading to the visual effect of under-eye dark circles. Other factors responsible for the dark circle are:

• Familial inheritance of dark circles
• Hormonal changes during pregnancy
• Dehydration and nutritional deficiencies
• Inflammation from contact dermatitis
• Medications leading to increased pigmentation in the body
• Excessive UV light exposure and screentime with mobile, laptops, and TV

Treatment of dark circles

As you can read above the causes of dark circles are numerous. So the treatment of dark circles is not very simple. Although the procedure is not complicated and is an office-based simple procedure, the knowledge of treatment of underlying cause after a proper evaluation is very important and your doctor being knowledgeable for that is the only factor that can give you “wow” results. Dr. Akangsha has attended many international conferences and learned techniques taught by masters in the field of cosmetic surgery internationally and now has come up with customized treatment for dark circles.

The procedures that can be required in men and women with underlying dark circles may include (depending on the need)

• HA fillers
• Lower lid blepharoplasty
• Fat grafting 
• Lid cheek junction blending with fat/filler
• Nano fat grafting
• Micro fat grafting
• Indigenous Skin Booster Therapy
• Microneedling
• Chemical peel- lactic, glycolic, croton peel
• Special creams are made from one's own body fat

All these procedures in combination with plus and minus needs can be done to reduce dark circles. Therefore, it requires in-depth knowledge of the procedure and which procedure to be performed.

When and how I can see improvement?

Depending on the type of procedure performed on the particular person the downtime varies. For example, if you are a candidate for HA fillers (which is a naturally occurring substance in the body) there is no downtime and you will see immediate improvement. But if fat grafting is performed whether it is nano fat grafting or micro fat grafting there will be bruising and swelling that resolves over a period of 7 to 14 days.

Which procedure is better HA filler or fat grafting?

Both procedures are equally good but as said above both procedures have different indications and different age groups to deal with. Each procedure can give wonderful results when done in an appropriate candidate. 

Should I go for Indigenous Skin Booster Therapy and naofatgrafting for undereye dark circles?

For this, you first need to understand what is Indigenous Skin Booster Therapy. Indigenous Skin Booster Therapy is platelet-rich plasma that does not contain live cells. While the nano fat grafting when processed contains stromal vascular fraction (SMV). SVM is a form of therapy that is made up of cells which generates other cells having specialized functions. These cells are harvested from adipose tissue (fat cells) found in our bodies.

How fat grafting procedure is performed?

Fat grafting is an invasive procedure that is performed under local anesthesia in minor OT setup and is an office procedure. The fat is harvested with tiny 2mm cannulas from your body. After that, the fat is processed through the special filters to convert it into microfat and nano fat, and then it is injected into the skin and on the bone at different levels to achieve the desired results.

Is fat grafting a scar-less procedure?

The process of fat graft harvesting and injection is done through 0.8 to 2 mm cannulas that don’t result in any scar or incision is not required.

Does fat grafting have stable and permanent results? Or what to expect after fat grafting?

Initially, there will be swelling and bruising that settles in 7 to 14 days and the person starts to see improvement over a month and that will remain stable for years.

Can any other procedure be combined with fat grafting?

Full facial fat grafting for volume loss (sunken look of the face) can be combined with fat grafting for dark circles. 

What is a mesotherapy technique for dark circle treatment?

In mesotherapy; pharmaceutically available vitamins and minerals are injected into the skin that helps it rejuvenate and repair. But results from these products are not very reliable and long-standing.

What is the microneedling procedure and is it helpful?

Microneedling is a procedure that boosts collagen formation and when used in combination with serums and or Indigenous Skin Booster Therapy the microneedling helps them infuse into the skin.

I have been applying the creams available in the market for dark circles removal for a long time but I am not getting the results?

There are a lot of over-the-counter available creams and commercial creams advertised on TV for dark under-eye circle treatment, but they seldom give results as stated by many people with dark circle problems (both men and women included). Why these superficially applied creams do not give the results you need to understand that. These creams never penetrate deep inside the skin to do the correction and can never give the volume as required for dehydrated and wrinkled skin. And, volume loss is the main culprit of dark circles but these creams can not resolve this issue.