The eyes – Analysis by Dr Gauthier – Part III

Analysis of the Eyes – THE TEMPLES

“The eyes are the greatest weapon of coquetry…” wrote Stendhal.

And this is true for everyone at any age!
I will remind you that the eyes are an indivisible whole enclosed in a “frame”

• Eyelids,
• Forehead,
• Temples,
• Under-eye circles
• Eyebrows.

It is on this “frame” that we can act.

In the first part I treated the eyelids. In the second part I treated the forehead.

I will now speak about the TEMPLES.
In ageing, first the temples grow hollow. This gives the eyes a tired and “haggard” look. Of course, exposure to the sun leads to the second problem, which is pigmentation (age spots). The constant expressions of the eyes give rise to the third problem, the so-called “crow’s feet”, which can sometimes be quite attractive and other times not.

1 – The depression:

With age, the natural distribution of fat on the face changes: some fats disappear, and others move. On the temples, the fat that circles a baby’s face disappears little by little… and the skin gets closer to the skeleton.

The eye becomes hollow and loses its softness.

In this case, restoring the volume of the socket will make it possible to revitalise and rejuvenate the eyes.

To do this, two types of treatment are possible:

• A medical method through hyaluronic acid injections. This treatment can be carried out in the surgery.

It must be repeated every 2-3 years.

Treatment follow-up is simple, and patients can immediately resume their activities. Social interaction does not have to be avoided.

• Surgical treatment to fill the hollow area with lipofilling. This procedure is necessarily carried out in the operating theatre (under local or general anaesthetic). At the same time, lipofilling of other parts of the face (cheeks, chin, temples, etc.) is also possible, or even a facelift.

2 – Pigmentation problems:

Light-based treatments (flash lamp, also called Intense Pulsed Light) are often very effective.

Good old treatment with nitrogen, spot by spot, is also effective, but does not change the overall quality of the skin of the temples, as light-based treatments would.

When the temples are wrinkled with small deep-set wrinkles and the skin has totally lost the elastin and collagen that kept it looking fresh, resurfacing treatments are necessary to “make new skin”.

Resurfacing treatments are therefore necessarily aggressive, since the idea is to totally renew the skin in this area.

Therapeutic resurfacing options are:

• Laser (CO2, Ebrium): healing time is more or less long (fractional lasers make it possible to heal quicker, but more sessions are necessary).
• Chemical peels: only strong chemical peels will renew the skin, small peels only have a stimulating effect, not a regenerating one.
• Ablation therapy with radiofrequency: this can also be more or less fragmented and include a recovery time of several days.

3 – “Crow’s feet” wrinkles:

Crow’s feet are very fine expression lines that appear at the corners of the eyes when you smile or laugh. These wrinkles are linked to contraction of the orbicularis muscle of the eye. The orbicularis muscle of the eye is a muscle that surrounds the eye socket and contracts when we squint, whether through smiling or laughing.

Like all expression lines, crow’s feet give character to the face. However, if these wrinkles are too visible (or present even when the face is at rest), this gives a tired appearance.

• The first treatment people try (and the most popular) is botulinum toxin. In fact, treating crow’s feet with botulinum toxin makes it possible to smooth the skin around the eye and reduce wrinkles when smiling or laughing. Like all botulinum toxin treatment, it must be renewed 1-2 times a year. Botulinum toxin injections in crow’s feet wrinkles are generally combined with injections to the eyebrow tip to open and revitalise the eyes.
• An additional resurfacing treatment or collagen stimulation therapy can also be considered once treatment with botulinum toxin has been carried out (and after several days, the time needed for the effects of the toxin to be visible).
• Hyaluronic acid injections into wrinkles do not give good results in general. You can try to reduce deep wrinkles by lightly coating the bottom of the wrinkle with fine and careful hyaluronic acid injections.

This must often be done several times: 2-3 sessions spaced out over several weeks.

The rediscovered radiance of the temples will help give your eyes – your “greatest weapon” – their full power of seduction.