Crow's feet are fine lines and wrinkles radiating outwards around the eyes. These are commonly known as crow's feet or worry lines. Years and years of smiling and squinting can also play a part in how they're formed. Sun exposure, frequent squinting, smoking and even sleeping on your face promote the formation of crows feet. Naturally, people who spend a great deal of time outdoors are at higher risk. Applying sunscreen, quitting smoking and wearing sunglasses and hats are the key ways to avoid crows feet.

Causes

▣ Thin Eyelid Skin- The skin of our eyelids is the thinnest skin on our face and is most susceptible to sun damage and aging changes
▣ Eyelid Muscle Action- Because the skin of the lid is so thin, it is easily deformed by the underlying muscle, the Orbicularis Oculi. When this muscle contacts it pulls this skin into folds. As the skin ages and looses collagen, these folds and lines become permanent
▣ Sun Exposure- The upper portion of our face, the forehead, eyes and cheeks get the most sun exposure of any area of the body. UV radiation from the sun destroys collagen in the skin and causes aging changes.

You can minimize the depth of existing crow's feet by treating the area with an eye cream that contains glycolic acid. One of a group of alpha hydroxy acids- originally derived from sugarcane is what studies suggest to do.

It's worth noting that most over-the-counter eye creams contain glycolic acid.

Stay out of the direct sun during the most dangerous hours of the day, since crow's-feet appear only after direct sunlight has begun to destroy the skin's elastin and collagen fibers as time passes, the best way to prevent crow's-feet is to apply a good amount of sunscreen on your face.

▣ Quiet the Muscle Pull- Botox is truly a miracle drug for treating aging changes around the eye. Botox weakens the muscles of facial expression, allows the muscle to relax and results in the disappearance of the lines and folds caused by the muscle pull. Small amounts work very well and are safe to use on the cheek. Botox injections as crow's feet treatment may last about 3 months. Some people enjoy the lasting effects of Botox on their crow's feet for 6 months and onwards

▣ Resurface or Remove Sun Damaged, Aged Skin- New fractional laser resurfacing can be done on the peri-ocular (around the eyes) skin to remove wrinkles and sun damaged skin. Newer fractional Erbium laser resurfacing results in much quicker recovery in 5-7 days, than older CO2 laser resurfacing which often took 3 weeks to heal. Eye protection is required during treatment.

▣ Non-ablative fractional Laser resurfacing- Non-ablative Erbium Laser treatments do not peel the skin so there is minimal recovery time. These techniques can be used in the crow's feet area but not on the eyelid. Eye protection for 3-4 weeks are required.

Non-surgical methods are the Best for these Skin Changes

The plastic surgery operation called a blepharoplasty does not remove eye wrinkles. Blepharoplasty does remove puffiness and bags and dark circles under the eyes. But the skin aging changes described earlier are not corrected with Blepharoplasty. The non-surgical methods including Botox and laser resurfacing or a chemical peel are necessary to correct skin aging changes of the eyelid skin.