What can I do about crow's feet around my right eye?

October 4, 2012 3:24 PM

I'm developing pronounced wrinkles and crow's feet around my right eye only. Help me figure out what's causing this and how to stop and/or reverse the process.

I'm a 31 woman and have recently given up smoking. I've been a skincare obsessive since my teens and have always cleansed, toned, moisturised and used oodles of sunscreen and eye cream. The smoking was my only (skincare) vice.

In the last 6 months or so I've started to develop crow's feet around my right eye only. It seems to me that they are developing quickly. They are particularly noticeable if I am in any way tired or dehydrated. The difference between each eye is striking. The skin around my left eye is almost completely smooth.

Naturally I'm hitting the wrinkles with all the products I can think of but to no avail. I haven't ever been to a dermatologist but that's probably the next step. I'm reluctant to take drastic measures to reduce the wrinkles until I know what's causing them. Also I enjoy the home version of skincare but find the next step intimidating and don't really know what I'm doing once I move away from the bathroom shelf. Am I looking for botox, fillers, dermabrasion, retinol...what?

Possibly relevant information:

The skin on the right hand side of my face is slightly more oily and prone to puffiness than on the left.

I sleep on my sides and sometimes my back or tummy. I'm as likely to wake up on my left hand side as my right.

I spent the last 2 winters working partly outside in the arctic in some severely cold temps. I moisturised only at night during this period. I don't think my rhs was any more exposed to the cold than the lhs.


I've seen this and related questions but they don't fully answer my query. I'm not convinced my wrinkles are sleep related and I can't think of any time or situation when one side of my face was regularly exposed to the sun more than the other.

Why are these wrinkles on only one side of my face? What can I do to halt their development and get my right eye looking as smooth as my left? If I do have to break out the hardcore processes what one should I go for and how do I ensure that I use a skilled professional who will get me a natural look? I'm assuming the asymmetric nature of the wrinkles will make it more difficult to achieve a natural effect that looks balanced around both eyes.

posted by roolya_boolya to health & fitness (12 answers total)

Your face might be crooked, and crinkle more on one side than the other when you smile or whatever.

It's ok, my face is crooked, too. I didn't even notice until I was screwing around with a webcam a year ago and mirror image flopped the video. My smile is definitely crooked. And it explains why I have smile crinkle lines on only one side of my face.
posted by phunniemee at 3:36 PM on October 4, 2012

Do you drive on the left side of the road? If this guy lived in England, the damage would be on the right side of his face.

This is totally not what is going on but it jumped into my mind.
posted by Sternmeyer at 3:39 PM on October 4, 2012 [8 favorites]

When you smoked did you tend to inhale on one side? I noticed I tended to squinch one side of my face when I smoked.
posted by brilliantine at 3:43 PM on October 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

Or if you're always a passenger in a country that drives on the right side of the road.
posted by PorcineWithMe at 3:44 PM on October 4, 2012

Is the vision in your right eye weaker? You might be squinting.
posted by Dansaman at 4:07 PM on October 4, 2012 [4 favorites]

Yeah, like brilliantine, you may have squinted on your dragging side to keep smoke out of your eye.
posted by rhizome at 4:08 PM on October 4, 2012

Do you sleep on your right side? Maybe the right side of your face is getting scrunched up during the night.
posted by Majorita at 5:12 PM on October 4, 2012

Ack, just saw that you addressed that in your question. Nevermind!
posted by Majorita at 5:13 PM on October 4, 2012

Do you tend to sit on one particular side of the car when driving (or being driven) I have age spots pretty much only on one side of my face from a life time of driving on the right in Australian (and now being a passenger pretty much all the time, in the US).

Dansaman's suggestion about squinting was a good one too.
posted by wwax at 6:03 PM on October 4, 2012

Do you have a habit of leaning your head on your hand?
posted by BlueHorse at 7:16 PM on October 4, 2012

I have minor neurological issues that make one side of my face very slightly wonky - my doctor calls it my pirate side. I have deeper nasolabial folds on that side and the eye doesn't open as wide as on the other side.

Anyway, you want botox on that one side, probably.
posted by elizardbits at 7:31 PM on October 4, 2012

I think brilliantine has it. I'm right-handed and always smoked on that side. I have a tendency to rest my head on my right hand which has probably exacerbated things. I do also have a neurological issue so there is an outside chance it could be that. Although I've had the brain thing since before I was born and this is the first sign of any facial impact.

I think the cursed smoking bears most responsibility overall though...Thanks all.
posted by roolya_boolya at 2:50 PM on October 5, 2012