How to Address Drooping Eyes: Why MFACE and Eye Thermage Should Be Considered Together

Hello.

I am Choi Won-woo, a board-certified dermatologist with 23 years of experience.

Today, I would like to talk about sagging in the upper face, which many people are concerned about but often overlook without knowing its exact cause.

As we age, many people notice that their eyebrows appear lower, their eyelids feel heavy, and their eyes look smaller than before.

If you find yourself thinking, “Why do I look so tired?” every time you look in the mirror, the issue may not be limited to the eyelid skin alone.

Drooping eyes often result from a combination of reduced elasticity in the eyelid skin, the strength of the muscles supporting the forehead and eyebrows, and decreased collagen around the eyes.

For this reason, lifting the upper face should be approached from a slightly different perspective than lifting the lower face.

While sagging along the jawline or cheeks is often addressed with devices such as Thermage, Ultherapy, and Onda, sagging of the eyelids and eyebrows requires an assessment of both the skin and muscles to determine a more natural approach.

Today, I will explain why Wells Dermatology considers MFACE and Eye Thermage together when evaluating upper-face sagging.

Contents

1. Why should upper-face sagging be assessed comprehensively?

2. MFACE: Assessing support around the forehead and eyebrows

3. Eye Thermage: Addressing the elasticity of thinning eyelid skin

4. Why MFACE and Eye Thermage should be considered together

Source: medifine

1. Why should upper-face sagging be assessed comprehensively?

Drooping eyes are not caused simply by loosened skin on the upper eyelids.

The upper face includes interconnected elements: the eyelid skin, eyebrow position, forehead muscles, and the condition of the collagen around the eyes.

As the eyelid skin becomes thinner and loses elasticity with age, the double-eyelid crease may become covered, and the area above the eyes may feel heavy.

If the supporting strength around the forehead and eyebrows also weakens, the eyebrows may descend, making the drooping eyelids appear more pronounced.

At this point, many people unconsciously use their forehead muscles to open their eyes.

At first, this may feel like nothing more than a habit of trying to open the eyes wider, but over time, forehead wrinkles may deepen and fatigue around the eyes may become more noticeable.

In other words, drooping eyes are not only an eyelid issue; they are a change created by the forehead, eyebrows, and skin around the eyes together.

Therefore, rather than approaching treatment from only one direction, it is important to determine which layer is contributing most to the problem.

First, it is necessary to assess whether the main issue is reduced skin elasticity, whether the eyelids are being covered as the eyebrows descend, or whether both are progressing together.

2. MFACE: Assessing support around the forehead and eyebrows

MFACE is a device that uses RF energy and HIFES energy together to stimulate both the skin and the muscle layer beneath it.

While conventional lifting devices primarily deliver energy to the skin, dermal, or fat layers, MFACE differs in that it also takes the movement of the muscle layer into account.

One of the important muscles in the upper face is the frontalis muscle of the forehead.

Because the frontalis muscle helps raise the eyebrows, weakening support in this area may cause the eyebrows to appear lower and the eyelids to feel more heavily covered.

MFACE induces a muscle contraction response in the forehead area and may help improve support around the eyebrows and forehead.

Simply put, rather than tightening only the skin, it can be understood as a method that also stimulates the internal structures supporting the eyebrows.

Of course, it is difficult to reverse long-standing sagging completely with a single treatment.

MFACE is generally performed through multiple treatments to encourage gradual changes, and the number and intervals of treatments may vary depending on the patient’s muscle condition and degree of sagging.

Therefore, it is best to understand MFACE not as a procedure that directly reduces excess eyelid skin, but as an upper-face lifting option that also manages support around the forehead and eyebrows.

3. Eye Thermage: Addressing the elasticity of thinning eyelid skin

Eye Thermage is a treatment that delivers radiofrequency (RF) energy to the skin around the eyes using a tip designed specifically for the eye area.

Thermage is known as a device that delivers heat stimulation to the dermal layer to induce a collagen regeneration response.

Using a dedicated eye-area tip allows for a more delicate approach to the much thinner and more sensitive skin around the eyelids than to typical facial areas.

The eyelid skin is one of the thinnest areas of the face.

As a result, even a small loss of elasticity can become immediately noticeable.

When the upper-eyelid skin becomes thin and loose, the double-eyelid crease may appear covered. When the skin beneath the eyes becomes lax, fine lines and a tired appearance may become more pronounced.

Eye Thermage is one nonsurgical RF treatment that may help improve reduced elasticity, fine lines, and the condition of thinning skin around the eyes.

However, Eye Thermage does not resolve every case of drooping eyes.

If there is significant excess eyelid skin or sagging that obstructs the field of vision, surgical treatment may be more appropriate.

Conversely, if the loss of skin elasticity is relatively mild or the eyelids have only recently begun to feel heavy, managing the elasticity of the skin around the eyes with Eye Thermage may be considered.

4. Why MFACE and Eye Thermage should be considered together

MFACE and Eye Thermage target different layers.

MFACE is a device that stimulates the muscle layer and skin elasticity around the forehead and eyebrows, while Eye Thermage is a treatment that induces a collagen regeneration response in thinning eyelid and eye-area skin.

In other words, while MFACE focuses on managing the internal structures supporting the eyebrows, Eye Thermage is closer to firming the thin, sagging skin around the eyes above those structures.

Many people with complex upper-face sagging have both of these issues at the same time.

For example, the eyebrows may have descended, the eyelid skin may have become thin and appear to cover the eyes, and forehead wrinkles may have deepened from straining to open the eyes.

In such cases, satisfaction may be limited if only the eyelid skin is treated or, conversely, if only the forehead muscles are stimulated.

For this reason, Wells Dermatology analyzes the skin and muscles separately when evaluating drooping eyes.

If reduced elasticity of the eyelid skin is the primary issue, Eye Thermage may be considered first. If the position of the eyebrows and the supporting strength of the forehead have a greater influence, MFACE may be planned as well.

Considering both treatments allows the elasticity of the skin around the eyes and the support around the forehead and eyebrows to be addressed separately, which may help manage upper-face sagging in a more comprehensive way.

Of course, not everyone needs both treatments.

If a significant amount of eyelid skin remains or functional discomfort is present, surgical consultation may take priority over nonsurgical treatments.

Conversely, if the sagging is not severe and early changes are the main concern, natural improvement may be possible with nonsurgical treatment alone.

In Closing

Drooping eyes are not simply a problem of the eyelid skin alone.

The elasticity of the skin around the eyes, eyebrow position, the supporting strength of the forehead muscles, and collagen loss can work together to create a heavy-eyed, tired appearance.

Eye Thermage may help delicately manage the elasticity of the eyelid and eye-area skin, while MFACE is a device that can also take into account the support around the forehead and eyebrows.

The important question is not which treatment is better.

The first step is to determine whether the cause of your drooping eyes is more closely related to the skin, whether the muscles and eyebrow position have a greater influence, or whether both factors are contributing together.

If surgery still feels like too much, but your eyelids feel heavy, your eyes appear smaller, or you feel that you have to strain your forehead to open your eyes, I recommend having the current condition of your upper face assessed.

At Wells Dermatology, we examine the thickness and degree of sagging of the skin around the eyes, along with the movement of the forehead and eyebrows, and suggest a nonsurgical approach to improving drooping eyes that is suited to each patient.

Thank you for reading this lengthy post.

This has been Choi Won-woo of Wells Dermatology.

[Related Reading]

Best 1. Introduction

Best 2. How combined MFACE and Eye Thermage treatment works

Best 3. Three factors for choosing the right MFACE clinic

Wells Dermatology Main Phone (click the number below to connect)
02 - 542 - 2372

Office Hours
Weekdays 10:00 ~ 20:00
Saturdays 10:00 ~ 17:00
Lunch 13:00 ~ 14:00
Closed Sundays and public holidays

This post was written directly by Wells Dermatology Clinic and complies with Article 56, Paragraph 1 of the Medical Service Act and all other laws concerning medical advertising.

All surgeries and treatments may be accompanied by side effects depending on the individual. Please receive sufficient treatment guidance from a medical professional and carefully decide whether to undergo the procedure.