Is eye cream important or will facial moisturizer work just as well? What eye cream works best for 65 year old woman?
If it’s just moisture you’re looking for around your eyes, then you are right, of course, that moisturizers are fine for that. Remember that the skin around the eye area has almost no oil glands, so it’s particularly susceptible to wrinkling.
But what if we want to prevent loss of elasticity, wrinkles, and over all skin texture of the eye area? Lasers can help for sure, but we’re not going to do those frequently due to the downtime. The key word here is prevention and if you start using an eye cream or two when you’re young, you won’t regret that decision.
Why an eye cream?
- Look at your family members. Can you tell what your pattern might be? Is there more hooding on the upper lids, sagging on the lower lids, puffiness, sun damage, wrinkles, hollows or discoloration under the eyes or around them? This is what you are trying to prevent.
- Often Botox/Dysport around the eyes (especially too much) will cause or aggravate puffiness under the eyes due to the muscle inaction reducing lymphatic drainage. An eye cream for puffiness will help.
- Eye creams can help prevent more sun damage, improve the texture of the skin and even tighten a little over time.
Which eye cream?
- For wrinkling and sun damage use an eye cream with retinol. These have the appropriate amount and for most, the ones for the face are too irritating.
- For puffiness under the eye, I still like our MadisonMD Eye Rescue the best. You can call our clinic at (206) 939-6633 and have it sent to you. Minimum order is 2. Use at night.
- For an eye area sunscreen, the Colorscience 3-in-1 Renewal SPF 35.
- For an eye area mask, Colorscience Total Eye Hydrogel Treatment Masks for a pack of 12 pairs.
- For a light lube in the morning with multiple gentle actives, try Pevonia Evolutive Eye Cream.
There are a lot of good eye creams. Have an eye cream party with your friends and sample 5-6 of them and each rate them. You can even get tiny containers so that everyone can use it for a week or so and then vote!
What a laser can do that an eye cream can’t.
- Creams are relatively superficial. A laser or radiofrequency can get more results because it works at a deeper level.
- Most of the short pulse, “no downtime” RF systems like Morpheus are not very effective and the long pulse, deeper RF systems like Profound are NOT approved for use around the eyes. The Thermage system does have an FDA approved small eye tip that is good for prevention and a little tightening.
- Fraxel Dual, some erbium lasers, CO2 (carbon dioxide lasers) and a new thermomechanical system (Tixel) can be used around the eye area safely and effectively with intraocular shields placed (like a special contact lenses).
I Hope this Helps,
Brandith Irwin, MD
Concierge Dermatology & Laser, Seattle
Founder of SkinTour
Follow my skin tips and travels on Instagram!
Trending Products
