Best Treatments for Crow’s Feet

Tiny wrinkles that form at the outer corners of your eyes, crow’s feet affect both men and women as they age. These wrinkle clusters usually become apparent when people are in their mid-30s or early 40s, but some people may experience them earlier due to genetics or environmental factors.

These lines traverse from the outer corners of your eyes (the lateral canthus) and may fan out or arc downward past the cheekbone. Collagen loss and years of smiling and squinting combine to form moderate or deep wrinkles.

At My Botox LA Med Spa, we treat wrinkles around eye corners by using a dermal filler with onabotulinumtoxinA (a formula derived from Botulinum toxin) or incobotulinumtoxinA (a second, slightly different formula, derived from the same substance). All of these treatments involve quick injections into the affected areas, and are performed in our by our offices by a licensed medical aesthetician.

Causes of Crow’s Feet

The tiny wrinkles at the outer corners of your eyes that extend from your eye corners to your temples have many causes.

Excessive squinting
Smiling
The orbicularis oculi (muscles circling the eyes) contracting
Loss of elasticity in the skin due to aging
Smoking or other lifestyle factors
Pollution and environmental factors
Genetics

There’s not much you can do about genetics or aging, and giving up smiling isn’t a practical solution for most people. However, you can do a lot about the other factors that cause tiny wrinkles around the eyes.

How to Prevent Fine Lines or Wrinkles around the Outer Corners of the Eyes

Stop Smoking

The nicotine in cigarettes constricts blood vessels, and depletes oxygen, water and nutrients from the skin. The softness and elasticity of the already thin skin at the outside of your eyes is compromised, causing tiny wrinkles.

Exfoliate

Exfoliate your skin once a day with a scrub containing glycolic acid. Exfoliating products with micro-beads or sugars don’t work as effectively as glycolic acid and other chemical scrubs. Exfoliating helps prevent lines and wrinkles by removing dead skin cells from the epidermis, the top layer of your skin.

Sun Damage

Too much exposure to UV rays from the sun cause electrons to become free radicals and damage skin tissue, weakening collagen and elastin. The skin around your eyes loses its vibrancy, and becomes thin and wrinkled. Always wear sunglasses and a high SPF sunscreen on your face, and limit sun exposure between 9 a.m. and 3 p. m.

Stay Well-Hydrated

Drink plenty of water to keep skin hydrated. Avoid consuming too much coffee or alcohol, which dries out the skin and leads to more lines and wrinkles as you age.

Are You a Good Candidate for Botox Crows Feet Treatment?

An injection of filler for crow’s feet may help to reduce and smooth tiny lines at the corners of your eyes if you have:

Noticeable crinkles at the outer corners of your eyes when you smile
Lines or wrinkles caused by excessive squinting
Tiny wrinkles at eye corners due to aging or environmental factors

Our trained experienced medical staff will examine you during your pre-treatment consultation and help you decide which injection type is best for you.

Precautions and Side Effects

Crow’s feet treatment with all types of natural dermal filler share some similar side effects. They include:

Bruising
Redness
Tenderness at injection site
Swelling
Inflammation

These common side effects should disappear about a week after treatment.

These treatment may cause dry mouth, headaches, droopy eyelids or muscle spasms in very rare cases.

You shouldn’t receive injections if you have difficulty swallowing, asthma or other breathing problems, or a skin infection in the treatment area.

Avoid taking the following medications and supplements a week before any injection for wrinkles around the eyes:

Aspirin
Ibuprofen
St. John’s Wort
Fish Oil
Vitamin E
Ginseng
Green Tea

These medications and supplements may increase the chance of bleeding and bruising after treatment.

Treatments with Dermal Filler

Hyaluronic acid (HA) filler is an all-natural substance. It works differently than toxin formulas that temporarily “freeze” facial muscles. HA plumps thin skin and fills lines around the eyes to give you a smoother, more youthful look. It’s injected into the top layer of skin, and the treatment only takes 10-15 minutes. A numbing cream may be applied before the procedure, similar to other crows feet treatments.

Fillers integrate into your skin tissue instead of blocking nerve impulses to the orbicularis oculi muscle. It’s placed directly into fine or medium wrinkle lines by our medical aesthetician. Some patients can be treated with a natural injectable filler and a “muscle freezing” filler at different times for best results.

A crow’s feet filler injection for tiny wrinkles around the outer eye corners usually lasts six to 12 months. After that, a maintenance treatment is needed once or twice a year to keep the eye area smooth.

Fillers work best on static etched wrinkles around the corners of the eyes. This solution is soft and fluid and gives the thin skin around the eyes a natural look.

Botox Crow’s Feet Treatment with Solutions to Temporarily Paralyze Facial Muscles

Fillers that temporarily freeze muscles treat wrinkles at the corners of your eyes by blocking the release of a neurotransmitter called acetyloline. When this neurotransmitter is blocked, the orbicularis oculi muscle becomes relaxed, and stays that way for up to 12 months, reducing the appearance of tiny wrinkle clusters at the corners if your eyes.

You won’t need anesthesia, but a numbing cream will be applied 10 or 20 minutes before the injections. The procedure usually takes between 10 and 15 minutes, and there’s no recovery time. You’ll be able to go back to work or daily activities right after your treatment. Initial results are apparent in three to five days.

Fillers that relax muscles to eliminate crow’s feet last from three to five months. The more units our injector uses, the longer results will last. You’ll need a maintenance treatment after that to keep the corners of your eyes wrinkle-free.

Call or email My Botox LA Med Spa today to learn more about non-invasive botox crows feet treatment.