[Lari Plastic Surgery] Identifying Eyes with Sunken Eye Hollows and Correcting Them with Upper Eyelid Fat Grafting

Eye hollows?

What does the presence of eye hollows show?

What should be done about eye hollows?

Today, I’d like to talk about eye hollows.

1. What are eye hollows, and why do they occur?

In English dictionaries, “eyehole” refers to the eye socket itself, the orbit. But in Korean dictionaries, “eyehole” refers to the sunken area between the eyes and the eyebrows.

In other words, in Korea, a hollowed-out, sunken upper eyelid is referred to as an eye hollow.

Eye hollows may appear congenitally depending on the skeletal structure around the eyes, but they can also develop over time depending on skin condition and the amount of fat.

There are various causes of eye hollows.

① Skeletal structure

This is a congenital eye hollow caused by the facial skeletal structure. Because Westerners tend to have more three-dimensional facial bone structures than East Asians, it appears much more prominently in Westerners, and because the depth and length of each person’s bone structure differ, there are individual variations.

② Reduced fat around the eyes

The most commonly seen cause among acquired factors is reduced fat around the eyes. The eyelids have a thin layer of fat (ROOF fat), and there is another layer of fat surrounding the eyes (orbital fat). These fats provide volume so that the eye hollows do not become sunken, but facial fat loss due to various causes reduces facial fat and becomes a cause of eye hollows.

③ Weakening and atrophy of the eye muscles

The orbicularis oculi muscle shown in the image above surrounds the eyelids and is used when closing the eyes. If the area around the eyes is stimulated by habits such as rubbing the eyes or wearing contact lenses, this muscle can weaken and eye hollows may occur. Spending long hours looking at a computer or phone without blinking often and placing a lot of strain on the eyes can also keep the orbicularis oculi in a chronically contracted and atrophied state, so caution is needed.

④ Decreased skin elasticity due to aging

The last cause is decreased skin elasticity due to aging. The skin of the eyelids is the thinnest skin on the body, making it especially vulnerable to aging. Therefore, as people get older, the skin around the eyes loses elasticity and sags, creating eye hollows in the upper eyelids. (Conversely, this creates under-eye bags in the lower eyelids.)

Puffy under-eye bags caused by sagging fat We’ll talk about under-eye bags in a future post..

2. How are eyes with and without eye hollows different?

<< Eyes without eye hollows >>

Eyes without eye hollows

are smooth, with no indentation or hollow between the eyes and eyebrows, or may even look slightly puffy due to the fat or skin thickness of the upper eyelid.

There may be various reasons for this, such as the skin, muscles, fat, or skeletal structure mentioned earlier, but many East Asians have thick orbital skin and abundant ROOF fat, so they often have eyelids without eye hollows like this.

<< Eyes with eye hollows >>

Eyes with eye hollows

have an indentation or hollow between the eyes and eyebrows, creating a sunken area in the upper eyelid even though it is not a double eyelid.

The depth of the eye hollow (the degree of indentation or hollowing), whether it is symmetrical, and so on all vary, but the eyelid tends to look somewhat uneven and unnatural.

A representative example of this kind of upper eyelid hollow is actor Lee Dong-wook.

In the past, the eye hollows were not very pronounced, but over time they gradually became deeper, which has increasingly enhanced Lee Dong-wook’s unique mysterious and deep charm, playing a role in highlighting the mature, sensual, and decadent appeal that can emerge with age. So if it is an attractive eye hollow that you can view positively, it may actually be better to leave it as it is.

3. Correcting eye hollows?

However, many eye hollows make the height of the eyelid uneven, causing shadows around the eyes or making them look like a very high double-eyelid crease. When this happens, the shadow can make the eye area look dull and can also give a tired impression. Also, since it is a phenomenon often seen in older people, it can make one look older, and for ordinary people, it is actually very difficult to achieve the positive effects seen in models or actors through eye hollows.

So then, what should we do if our eye hollows do not create a good impression?!

At this point, what we need is correction of sunken eye hollows.

Correction of sunken eye hollows literally means filling in and correcting the sunken eye hollow. If the deeply indented area of the eyelid is smoothly filled in, the curves disappear and the eyes become much more natural and comfortable to look at.

So what do we fill eye hollows with? The answer is autologous fat. Fat is harvested from your own body and transplanted into the eye hollow.

If, as in the photo above, the depth of the eye hollow differs between the two eyes, the harvested fat is adjusted in different amounts for each side according to the depth of the hollow, so that after grafting, the result looks as similar as possible.

As the sunken eyelid is corrected and symmetry is achieved, the eyes look brighter and more stable after surgery than before.

There are cases, like the two patients above, where the eye hollows are severe, but on the other hand, there are certainly cases like this patient where the eye hollows are not severe. Even in such cases, if fat is grafted without properly assessing the degree, as if filling a severe eye hollow, the eyelids may become excessively puffy, making the eyes feel heavy and potentially giving the appearance of swollen eyes.

So when correcting sunken eye hollows, we must accurately assess the depth of the hollow and graft the appropriate amount of fat into the correct location to maximize the effect.

If you like the eye hollows you already have and do not want correction, there is no need to change them, but if you do not like them and want to correct eye hollows that harm your appearance, please consider the sunken eye hollow correction at Lari Plastic Surgery ^_^