I am a 46 year old male. Extremely active and I do make some efforts to protect my appearance now that I never did before, altho I am not a metrosexual. Exercise has kept me lean and strong and vitamin supplements, avoiding the sun, and the occasional use of my wife's exfoliating products keeps my face looking pink and healthy.
I recently decided to get Lasix surgury and ditch the glasses and with this coming up in a couple of weeks I have been noticing how my face will look, full time, with no glasses.
Basically I have been told my face looks 35, and without the glasses concealing the area around the eyes I think my eyes make me look 50. I am not tremendously vain, and am not getting the Lasix for appearance sake, but this look is bothering me enough that I am reconsidering the surgury.
I have laugh lines around the eyes when I smile which is not flattering, but isn't even the bigger problem. Even when my face is fully relaxed, the area below the eyes is puffy, and has a dark tinge to it.
Is there something not too invasive that can be done to deal with these things? I am okay with grower older but this is like 5 years in one day. I think if I had been wearing contacts the last 10 years and it was gradual and obvious I would be fine with it, but this is a bit too much for me.
Anyone had any luck dealing with this, other than by stoic acceptance?
The puffiness can be removed by undereye surgery that isn't considered invasive, but unfortunately there isn't anything you can do about the dark tinge. I think it's worse for a man to have this because we women can simply cover ours with make-up. What you're actually seeing is the blood directly beneath the surface. The skin under our eyes is thinner than on the rest of our face, so what's underneath is easier to see.
My mother-in-law had her eyes fixed too, but she still wears her glasses because she looks terrible without them. She's 79 and the skin around her eyes is wrinkled quite a bit, and she just looks so much better with the glasses on because they hide what she doesn't want others to see. And I know another woman who's 77 and even though she had her eyes fixed too, she still wears her glasses for the same reason.
I have found that most people who have the eye surgery are younger and adapt easier. I honestly don't know of anyone older who's had it done and doesn't still wear glasses, even if it's only plain glass in the frames. You may want to keep in mind too, that most people, the older they get, usually tend to look better in glasses than without, so based on this and the fact that the skin around your eyes is bothering you already, you may wish to reconsider even having the surgery done. The reason we have this surgery is so we can see without glasses or contacts, but if you're still going to feel more comfortable with them on, there really isn't much sense in having it.
(and if it will make you feel better, I am in your age bracket, and I personally prefer men with glasses for the same reason we women love the grey hair at the temples - it simply makes you look distinguished, and with the right frames, also very handsome If you want my opinion, I'd cancel the surgery and spend that money on a terrific pair of frames that make you look like a million bucks)
I agree. I'm 54 and I love to see nice frames on a gentleman. I have found that men age differently than women, I call it the Johnny Carson syndrome - the older he got, the better he looked. We women get grey hair and some wrinkles, and we just look plain old. Men, on the other hand, get that nice grey at the temples, or what is called the salt and pepper look, a few wrinkles here and there, and they look distinguished. Toss on a pair of flattering glasses, and that's one sexy guy. I used to work with a man who wore glasses, and he decided to have that surgery done, and I gotta tell you, the first time I saw him without his glasses, I just about fell over, he really looked so much older because the skin under his eyes was quite wrinkled. He was only in his 50's at the time, but when he put those glasses back on, it took a good ten years off his face. And he's been wearing them ever since. So Perry, I would have to agree with cb50 - I'd cancel the surgery, keep those glasses on, and smile at that '35' year old face looking back at me in the mirror every day.
The cosmetic surgeon I met with told me laser. About $3500.00 for upper and lower eyes and because the stretching is not advanced he said no actual cutting. The laser would shrink the skin sufficiently to remove most of what I was complaining about. Not invasive except for 6-8 weeks of redness in the laser area. I will have to give that some thought as raccoon eyes and makeup are both not things I am interested in. Vain enough for the surgury but not vain enough to wear masking makeup for a few weeks
I guess I have more of an aversion to the obviousness of the treatment. A typical male response perhaps. I am not comfortable with the perception of insecurity that the surgury might advertise. Catch 22. Will have to give it some further thought.
Some puffiness under the eye won't respond to a lower lid lift if it's too far down, the bagginess must be very close to the lower lash line. If not, it might take a middle-third of the face lift to get rid of it.
I am trying different creams and stuff. Some people swear by Preparation H ointment and other people don't think it does anything. But whatever you try, you have to be diligent with it for about a month to see results.
And never rub eyes or pull on the skin since it stretches more easily with age. Sometimes we don't even realize we're doing it.
I use the circle eye cream. It does not work that well. I cannot afford laser surgery, although that is probably the most effective.
I wish there was something better that I can afford. Any ideas?
Ruth
If you want my opinion, I'd cancel the surgery and spend that money on a terrific pair of frames that make you look like a million bucks)
