How to Tell if You Need Tear Trough Filler

Hollow looking under eyes can make you look tired, even when you’re not, and make under eye darkness look exaggerated because it helps to create a shadow. 

So, why do you become hollow under your eyes? Let’s do a whistle-stop anatomy tour to understand why under our eyes, or ‘tear troughs’, become hollow-looking. 

The skin around your eyes is covering a hollow eye socket (think about what a skull looks like). Within your eye socket is your eye, no surprise there, and fat pads. These fat pads usually do one of two things as we age; they become displaced and bulge, resulting in heavy-looking under-eye ‘bags’ which can make you look puffy and tired. Usually, this will need surgical correction rather than tear trough filler.

The second thing these fat pads tend to do is shrink. Generally, when we hear that our fat is shrinking, we’re happy about it but there’s less to celebrate when your facial fat pads shrink- they help to keep a youthful appearance and defined features. Shrinkage fat pads in and around the eye socket mean that without this ‘cushioning’, the eye sockets become more obvious which means that under eyes can look sunken, tired, and hollow. This is how to tell if you may benefit from tear trough filler.

Your practitioner will assess you before tear trough treatment as there are some checks that they should do to ensure that this treatment is safe for you and that you are a suitable candidate. 

Now that it’s a little clearer about who may be suitable for tear trough filler, you may have some questions. I’m going to answer a few of the most asked questions at our St. Alban’s skin clinic. Hopefully, this covers your question but remember that when you have your consultation our medical practitioner will be able to answer all the specific questions you may still have. 

Who does tear trough fillers?

This depends on where you go; as you may be aware the aesthetic industry is currently unregulated which, shockingly, means that *anybody* can pick up a needle and inject Botox or dermal fillers. And they do. 

Tear trough filler is an advanced technique that even some medical practitioners cannot offer so when you are looking for tear trough fillers in Hertfordshire there are standards I would strongly recommend you look for:

1/ A medical practitioner. 

2/ Advanced training in tear trough fillers, not just the general ability to perform filler treatment.

3/ Ideally, the clinic/practitioner is registered with a professional standards register such as Save Face and/or the CQC. This means that they’ve been vetted to ensure that the practitioner is who they say they are, have the appropriate training and qualifications and are insured. It also means that the environment you have your treatment it is safe, clean and the dermal filler products they use are genuine, sourced from legitimate suppliers and are appropriately stored… amongst other standards.

At our St. Albans skin clinic, the practitioner who performs tear trough filler treatments is a medical professional with over 30 years experience in dermal fillers, 10 of those years have been performing tear trough filler treatments. Throughout those 10 years, she has taken numerous additional training courses of this speciality to help ensure that she gives a safe treatment with good results. She is registered with Save Face and our Clinic is CQC registered.

What dermal filler is best for under eyes?

We use Teoxane Redensity II. Currently, it is the only dermal filler licensed to treat the tear trough area and therefore the only dermal filler we use for this under-eye area.

Tear trough filler for wrinkles?

In this instance, the dermal filler is being used to replace lost volume (think back to my little eye socket anatomy lesson at the start). Tear trough filler is dealing with more of a structural issue rather than wrinkles. 

There are some fantastic treatment options for wrinkles around the eyes, including Thermage, Sunekos, and wrinkle relaxing injections (which we can discuss with you at our Hertfordshire skin clinic). If wrinkles around your eyes is your concern, you’ll find our blog, How to make the skin around your eyes look younger, a help.   

Tear trough filler vs Sunekos?

Both Sunekos and tear trough filler are forms of facial rejuvenation. If you look at our before and after image on our Sunekos page, you can see how our patient -who has just started to notice hollowing under her eyes-has had this improved with Sunekos. Sunekos is designed to improve loss of volume that only requires a very subtle improvement (as seen in those before and after images I mentioned); it works more on the skin and surrounding tissues to deeply hydrate and regenerate, which makes it a great option for fine lines and wrinkles. 

The dermal filler will hydrate the area because it is made from synthetic hyaluronic acid (our skins natural lubrication), however, when it comes to tear troughs it is designed to replace the volume lost from your fat pads naturally shrinking with age and/or weight loss. 

Dermal fillers may be a better option if you need a certain level of correction. When it comes to more advanced under eye hollowness Sunekos may be better categorised as a skin treatment rather than a structural treatment. These treatment options will be discussed with you should you wish to explore both Sunekos and tear trough fillers for under your eyes and/or if they’re both suitable for your individual concern.

Tear trough filler or Botox?

These treatments do very different things. You may benefit from both depending on your unique concerns. 

Botox can be used around the eyes to help soften smile lines, often called Crows Feet, which appear at the sides of the eyes. This will not help to improve the appearance of hollow under eyes in any way. 

If you have concerns about hollowness under your eyes then tear through filler may be a treatment option, Botox will not be.  

If you want to know more about Botox vs filler and what each treatment can be used for (you may be surprised), then have a look at our blog Are Botox and filler the same thing?

I hope you have a better idea if tear trough filler is likely to be the right fit for you. If you would like to discuss this treatment or any other skin treatment to help around your eyes, our skin clinic Hertfordshire would love to tell you more.

Disclaimer: This information is for educational purposes only; it is not to be used as a benchmark, for diagnostic or any other purpose. We are all unique which means that our results, suitability, and patient experience for any type of treatment will vary. The results discussed are unique to the individual and we cannot guarantee that you will have the same experience. Always seek the advice of a professional should you have any health or cosmetic concerns or to discuss treatments specifically for you.

Disclaimer: This blog is not to be used for diagnostic purposes. We are all unique which means that our results, recovery and suitability for any type of treatment will vary. Always seek the advice of a professional should you have any health or cosmetic concerns or to discuss treatments specifically for you.