Can Laser Resurfacing Make Under Eye Bags Worse?

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 cause them to appear more tired, sad or older. Laser resurfacing works great to treat the loose skin part of the eyelid. The most common procedure I perform on lower eyelids is a... more

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 resurface or smooth the skin. The results are beautiful. The laser causes a gentle tightening and contraction of the skin helping to further diminish the under eye bags and wrinkles.... more

Eyelid wrinkles and loose eyelid skin can camouflage eye bags. Laser resurfacing can remove eyelid wrinkles and tighten eyelid skin, and after laser resurfacing eye bags can be more obvious. Many non surgeons try to achieve a blepharoplasty by using laser resurfacing, and it is simply impossible to remove eye bags with laser resurfacing. Combining laser resurfacing with a blepharoplasty can be done, but it is very tricky. Too aggressive laser resurfacing combined with blepharoplasty can... more

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 you have healed up from the resurfacing, The reason is because when you have both eyelid wrinkles and excess fat of the lower eyelid, the fat is slightly less noticeable due to the... more

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 the fat or any of the other contents below your skin. Complications can include changes in pigmentation and in very rare cases scarring requiring surgery. Make sure you see a board... more