Understanding the Causes and Treatments for Eye Bags in Singapore

by Andy Cheng Director

Whether it's eye bags, crow's feet, droopy eyelids or dark eye circles, our eyes tend to be the first area to age faster than other parts of the face. This is because the skin around the eyes is extremely delicate and thin. With the lack of collagen and elastin, most people tend to notice signs of premature ageing around the eyes as young as early thirties.

Unlike other visible signs of ageing, eye bags can be difficult to conceal if they become too puffy and swollen. What exactly are eye bags and why do some of us get them?

We speak to one of the most popular aesthetic doctors in Singapore, Dr. Siew Tuck Wah, Medical Director of Radium Medical Aesthetics. He tells us more about causes of ageing around the eyes and what can be done about it.

How do eye bags form?

As we grow older, tissue and other support structures around the eyes gradually weaken and sag. Ageing skin becomes too lax and tends to droop over time. The lack of muscles and collagen allow the excess fat surrounding the eyes to bulge out, shifting the fat into the lower eyelids and creating a small ‘baggage’ under the eyes.

Other than intrinsic ageing, your dietary habits, sleeping pattern and even the environment can affect your physical appearance, including your eye bags. In some rare cases, allergies and certain medications can also cause your eyes to look puffy.

Although it is rarely a serious medical condition that needs to be treated urgently, eye bags are often an aesthetic problem. People usually want to remove them because they are unsightly and make them look constantly tired and old.

Home remedies for treating eye bags

If your eye bags are mild and don’t bother you too much, you can opt for some home remedies that have proven to be effective to treat eye bags.

USE A COLD COMPRESS Toss out those jade rollers. Depuffing your eyes can be as simple as using an ice pack, frozen bag of peas or even just refrigerated spoons to constrict the blood vessels quickly for some temporary relief. Cooling the under eyes can also reduce inflammation and swelling.

CLEAR YOUR SINUSES People who suffer from regular sinusitis should use a sinus irrigation device to irrigate your sinuses, flushing debris and mucus from your nose. Clearing your sinus can alleviate the under-eye bags and dark circles.

CHOOSE AN APPROPRIATE EYE CREAM There are countless eye creams in the market and it can be overwhelming to determine which one to try. The key is to focus on the ingredients and look out for specific ingredients that are prove to work. For example, retinol as an active ingredient can address the lack of collagen in the under-eye area. Look out for best eye creams with peptides as they help to improve skin barrier, ease inflammation and reduce wrinkles by stimulating collagen growth under the eyes.

In-clinic treatments for eye bag removal

There are a number of eye bag removal treatments to depuff and debulk the undereyes. Blepharoplasty, a type of eyelid surgery remains the most aggressive and most effective way to eliminate eye bags. During this outpatient procedure, the surgeon creates a tiny incision to remove excess fat through the incision. Sometimes when there is excess skin, the surgeon may remove it as well. The surgeon then closes the incision with tiny stitches.

As with all surgeries, blepharoplasty typically has a significantly longer downtime as compared to non-surgical options.

Non-surgical options are not as aggressive as blepharoplasty. The results are often subtle but these treatments can be repeated until you are satisfied with the outcome. Non-surgical treatments typically include dermal fillers, radiofrequency microneedling, laser treatments.

In recent years, skin resurfacing lasers such as CO2 laser can stimulate collagen production. Over time, wrinkles and fine lines reduce and the skin gradually tightens. For milder cases of eye bags, improvements can be seen with repeated sessions.

AGNES eye bag treatment, a type of radiofrequency microneedling treatment, is commonly used by aesthetic doctors in Singapore to specifically target the excess fat under the eyes. This Korean technique allows the excess fat to be melted away with micro-insulated needles delivering radiofrequency waves. The melted fats then drain out naturally via your circulatory system.

Adding dermal fillers to your eye bags doesn’t seem like the most sensible thing to do. However, if undereye dermal filler treatment is performed in a skillful manner by an experienced injector, you can rest assure that tiny amounts of HA fillers can smoothen out the dark shadows and fine lines under the eyes by plumping up the hollow areas under the eyes.