Can Laser Resurfacing Make Under Eye Bags Worse?

Laser resurfacing has minimal impact on lower eyelid bags. It does tighten the skin slightly, but not enough to remove the bag. In order for the bag to be removed, a laser assisted lower blepharoplasty needs to be performed. Laser resurfacing makes the skin overlying the fat appear less wrinkly, sun-damaged and more youthful. It should not worsen the appearance of the bag. I hope you find this useful. Good luck.

Fractional laser is an amazing and highly effective treatment in our office. We use the laser treatment to help with acne scars, large pores, fine wrinkles, tissue collagen loss, scars, sebaceous hyperplasia, active acne, and for brightening dark pigmentation. Although there are very strong fractional lasers such as CO2 laser, we use lighter treatments for corrective skincare and maintenance of results. Our Thulium fractional laser, clear and brilliant laser, and Ultra Thulium laser are excellent options in our clinic. We also perform CO2 fractional and erbium depending on skin tone and tolerance for downtime. Patients do have to use a Melarase cream before and after treatment to help further reduce pigmentation after laser. Melarase AM, Melarase PM, and Melapads can seriously improve surface sun damage and UV related pigmentation. Dark spots can improve with these treatments. I recommend fractional laser for incisional scars as well, especially after plastic surgery.
Best,
Dr. Karamanoukian
Realself100 Surgeon

Laser resurfacing generally does not make under eye bags worse. If anything, laser resurfacing will offer some degree of tightening of the skin, which should improve the appearance of the lower eyelid area. If significant improvements are made with laser treatments of lower eyelid wrinkles, it is possible that eye bags might become more noticeable simply because the other surrounding issues have improved.I usually find that a combination of treatments customized for each patient works best to improve this area (laser, filler, surgery, topical treatments, etc).All the best,

Laser resurfacing will help with the fine lines and crepiness of the lower eyelid skin. It will have minimal effect on the actual bags. This should not be confused with lasers used for blepharoplasty (eyelid bag surgery) which is used as a cutting and cautery tool. One can even get a blepharoplasty with a laser to make incisions and remove bags and at the same time a laser to resurface the skin

While laser resurfacing will not remove under eye bags, the skin can be somewhat tightened, especially with a correctly performed treatment, and improve the overall appearance of the lid and lid-cheek regions.  It does not take the place of blepharoplasty, but when performed correctly, should definitely not make things look worse.