Can laser resurfacing make under eye bags worse?

Can laser resurfacing make under eye bags worse? I heard the after you tighten the skin the bags can be more prominent and more noticeable. My derm says will help. What is the truth?

4 answers to “Can laser resurfacing make under eye...”

A: Laser resurfacing for lower eyelid wrinkles alone can make existing bags appear worse

Scott Trimas, MD

Laser resurfacing for lower eyelid wrinkles alone can make existing bags appear worse. I will tell you from personal experience and having treated many patients with the CO2 laser for lower eyelid wrinkles, that if you have bags before the procedure underneath your eyes that they will indeed appear worse after... more

A: Skin type is important for laser treatment

Steven H. Williams, MD

The comments below are great but be sure to consider skin type as well. Patients with darker skin may have issues with CO2 laser resurfacing. The laser targets water in your skin and is "an ablative" therapy actually causing superficial destruction of the top layers of your skin. It will not change... more

A: Laser Resurfacing is Great for Eyelids

Edgar Franklin Fincher, MD, PhD

There are usually 3 things to treat when performing surgery on the lower eyelids: 1) protruding fat or "bags" 2) a loose eyelid that causing drooping of the outer part of the lid 3) loose skin that makes wrinkles or even sagging piles of skin under the eye. Patients can have some or all of these features that... more

A: Laser Resurfacing Will Improve Under Eye Bags

Mark Berkowitz, MD

I LOVE laser skin resurfacing the lower eyelids!!! As an Ocular Plastic Surgeon I gave up the scalpel blade 15 years ago for the CO2 (carbon dioxide) laser. The laser can be used to gently remove the fullness (fat) in the lower eyelids.  Once the fatty tissue is sculpted the same laser can be used to... more

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Comments

Katherine Gordon
1 post
30 Oct 2008

Using the C02 fractional mixo lasering laser for skin tightening only... under the eye wrinkles....lots of cross hatching and sun damaged wrinkles....what setting would you suggest using. The skin of course is very thin, the woman is causcasion, 48 fair skin and dark hair.

drbanda
95 posts
24 Oct 2008

Ablative fractional resurfacing (and I mean ablative) does improve the appearance of under eye bags in some cases. Smaller ones rather than larger ones tend to get less prominent months after the resurfacing procedure. It certainly does not make them worse. The explanation for this is the remarkable new collagen formation that the procedure stimulates. In turn all the new collagen promotes the tighening of overlying skin. Indeed the 'bags' are due to both fat accumulation and loose skin. This is why the definitive 'cure' is still surgery which removes the fat and also tightens the skin.

Katy Brown
1 post
1 Apr 2009

I want to tighten the loose skin on my hands, what would be the best route?

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