Is upper eyelid filler safe & effective? I'm 47 with hooded eyelids (Photo)

Hooded eyelids look good when there is enough brow fat pad hiding the rim of the eye socket bone. If you raise you eyebrows when looking in the mirror, you may notice that although your upper eyelid skin is hooding towards your eyelashes, when you raise your eyebrows, you see much more upper eyelid than you did when you were younger.
The amount of upper eyelid skin (in actuality is it brow skin) is that same as when you were younger. The volume loss in relation to the amount of skin for hooded eyelids make the skin look loose. Notice that the loose skin disappears when you raise your eyebrows. So a browlift would give you the same look as raising your eyebrows, but without forehead wrinkles. If you like the look of the amount of eyelid you see when raising your eyebrows, then skin removal, skin tightening, or browlift will give you that look.
Having said that, my interest in adding volume back around the brow area began in 2006, when observing patients after upper eyelid surgery. The goal of aged hooded eyelid surgery is to remove the loose skin, However, when looking at these patients younger photos, I did not see much eyelid “platform” the eyelid skin below the upper eyelid fold. All that I saw was a lot of “brow skin” or skin between the eyebrow hairs to the top of the eyelid fold. What I did notice was that the eyelid fold was “parallel” to the eyelash line curving softly in a parallel manner. At no point on young looking eyes is there a straight line area to the curve, which makes the amount of eyelid showing less than the inner corner of the eyelid which is usually more (AKA A-frame deformity).
For upper eyelid filler, reviewing the patient’s younger photos is crucial to determining what exactly to next. Many times the hooded area is actually not the problem and the A-frame area is actually showing too much eyelid. By adding volume to the inner corner of the brow skin area will hide more eyelid and help to curve the eyelid fold more in the inner corner, thus making the eyelid fold parallel. The results are see as the volume is adding back and shown to the patient between incremental additions of volume.
The results can last many years, the longest without a touch up is already up to eight years, but results may vary. It depends on if we are catching the volume loss early and immediately replacing it before it full hollows. By performing the upper eyelid filler, does not “stop aging” or stop the fat loss from continuing to happen. For these patients, then will need a touch up earlier. For other patients, who had eyelid surgery, or non-surgical skin tightening which “cooks off” more fat underneath the skin from the heat of the non-surgical procedure, then the results may last longer, since the fat was prematurely shrank on purpose. For my family members and my patients, I prefer than they keep as much natural fat as possible and I will try to maintain their “look” as is changes in the future. For this reason, I don’t recommend energy, heat, RF or laser to “tighten” the skin since I don’t see that as the actual problem to solve.
In fact, if the original problem fat loss causing the hooding, then cooking the skin and fat more will shrink more fat and show even more eyelid than when they were younger. If you prefer your younger hooded eyelids, it will turn Blake Lively’s eyelids into Nancy Peloso eyelids as more skin and fat keeps getting reduced.
I would rather maintain the look instead. During consultations, I show many more examples than are shown on the website. Most patients who have had upper eyelid filler done with me, don’t appear to have had anything done, and they don’t want people to know, hence I don’t push my patients hard to show their photos on social media like other practices.
Best,
Dr. Yang
Best,
Dr. Yang

You are absolutely correct in noticing that many providers do not offer this treatment. This is a highly advanced area to treat as injections around the eye (and truly anywhere in the face) carry the risk of injecting filler into a blood vessel which can cause occlusion and very rarely blindness. As always, it's best to see an experienced provider to see if you will be a good candidate for this procedure. Other options to improve hooding of the upper eyelid would be upper eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty), brow lift, or non surgical options such as energy devices/skin tightening to help lift the brows. Hope this helps!

Hello Fabulous877912! My name is Jessica, I am a physician assistant, and one of the providers at Shah Facial Plastics. I highly recommend scheduling an in-person consultation in order to better assess the areas of concern and discuss an appropriate treatment plan to help achieve your aesthetic goals. Our office phone number is: (312) 944-0117. I hope this helps and best of luck!

From your photo you are a better candidate for either an upper blepharoplasty, a brow lift, or both. The blepharoplasty would address the excess skin of the upper lid. A brow lift would reposition the brow which in pulls some excess eyelid skin upward. The result is a refreshed appearance to the eye. I've included a video that I hope you find helpful.

In general, the best treatment for hooded eyelids is a blepharoplasty removing the excess upper eyelid skin. Eyebrow sagging may also cause hooding of the upper eyelid; this can be address with brow lift, botox, and/or sofwave. Fat can be placed to restore the fullness as well; filler is used much less commonly.