Wrinkles around the eyes, whether they be be wrinkles of the eyelids themselves or wrinkles around the eyes (crows feet), are a very aging feature on the face.

The wrinkles of the skin of the eyelids and directly around the eyes are due to the skin becoming baggy and loose, as it loses its elasticity and volume as part of the ageing process.

It affects many women when they find it difficult to apply eye makeup such as eye shadow, due to the laxity of the skin over the upper eyelid. Trying to apply eye shadow can cause great frustration both as the eye shadow itself collects in the loose skin and therefore doesn't go on smoothly and also, if there is an element of "hooding" of extra skin above the upper eyelid, the eye shadow is in shadow and therefore not seen.

Although elsewhere on the face wrinkles can be treated with treatments such as Botox or fillers, the closer one gets to the eye the less able we are to use these standard methods. In particular, if the eyelid itself is involved, Botox and fillers cannot be used as the skin is so thin.

Up until recently, the only effective treatment available for loose and crepey skin of the upper eyelid and immediately around the eye, or for hooding of the skin above the eye, was surgical intervention such as blepharoplasty.

There is now a non-invasive alternative available for many people with these conditions. Using well-established principles of radio-frequency skin tightening, Thermage has developed a treatment specifically to tighten the skin of the upper eyelids and the skin immediately surrounding the eyes.

The advantages of such a non-invasive treatment is that it can be performed in the clinic, it requires no surgery or injections at all - just some local anaesthetic drops to the eye - and takes approximately 1 to 2 hours to perform. There is no "downtime" and you can go about your normal activities immediately post-treatment. I makeup can be applied very soon after the treatment has finished.

Some improvement from the skin tightening can be seen immediately in many people, but the full effect is not seen until the skin has completed its healing process between three and six months post-treatment.

Not everybody is suitable for this treatment and the rest of this website will go further into the process of radiofrequency treatment of the skin around the eyelids and eyes as well as these sorts of results one can expect.