Many people considering under eye fillers are nervous about having a procedure so close to their eyes. This is understandable, especially with the amount of unqualified and downright dodgy injectors out there. To help you in your decision making process, we’ll walk you through the process of under eye fillers so you know exactly what to expect.
What’s the under eye procedure like?
When done with precision and care, under eye fillers are actually a very comfortable procedure. Tiny needles and a blunt dermal filler cannula are usually used. Often topical and local anaesthetic are also applied to minimise discomfort. You might feel a quick pinch if anaesthetic is injected. It is also common to feel and hear the filler being injected (sometimes you can hear air bubbles crackling), but this is not painful.
How long do under eye fillers take?
From start to finish, under eye fillers generally take 10-20 minutes to inject correctly. If you’re treatment is over before you know it, you should be very suspicious about whether it was done carefully. Injecting under eye filler in a rush significantly increases the risk of both a bad result and side effects.
More complex treatments take longer, and this depends on the severity of your concerns, and the quality of the skin around your lower eyelids.
What steps are involved?
Here’s a breakdown of the under eye filler procedure:
- The skin around your lower eyelids will be cleaned to reduce the risk of infection, and marking will be made to plan out where to place the filler
- Depending on your preference, the doctor may apply a numbing cream to your skin, inject local anaesthetic, or both. Numbing injections work immediately, while cream needs a few minutes to absorb into the skin.
- Tiny needles will be used to carefully place tiny droplets of filler onto the surface of the bones directly beneath the hollow areas around your outer eye. For the inner part, a small blunt cannula is inserted around your cheek and placed deep beneath the obicularis oculi (the muscle that shuts your eyes). The under eye filler is then carefully place.
- After the filler has been injected, your doctor will carefully mould the filler to ensure a smooth result.
- Your skin will be cleaned again, and then a soothing balm will be applied to your skin.
Is it painful?
Under eye fillers have surprisingly little discomfort. This is of course on the condition that they are performed carefully, gently, and with the appropriate use of anaesthetic.
If you’re under eye fillers are unexpectedly painful, this may signal a problem, and your injector should stop and check for side effects.
