Aging gracefully is easier said than done. You may not even notice that you're doing it, but years of making expressions or furrowing your brow can lead to frown lines between your brows. As you age, your eyebrows eventually begin to droop over your eyes, which can make you look angry or tired. “Over activity of the muscles around the eyes that cause lines and wrinkles around your brow area is exacerbated by sun damage, which causes sagging skin, giving your brows a heavier and older look” says New York plastic surgeon Kaveh Alizadeh, MD. Here are six simple ways to easily treat the brow area and greatly reduce the signs of aging.
Catch More Z's
Fatigue can contribute to your aging eyes. Lack of sleep causes your adrenal glands to overproduce stress hormones and create more inflammation in the body, which accelerates the aging process. When you don't get enough sleep, it shows-puffy eyes, under-eye bags and crow's feet can create the appearance of an aging face. “The recommended amount of sleep is a minimum of six hours per night with an optimal eight hours per night,” says Dr. Alizadeh. “Getting the right amount of sleep will result in more youthful-looking skin.” Your body needs to get through all the stages of sleep in order to produce more collagen and for skin tissue to repair. Getting adequate sleep can help you instantly look refreshed, rested and more youthful.
Get a Natural Look With An Injectable
Seeing lines form on your face is one of the most universal signs of aging-and frown lines between your brows are inevitable. But you don't have to live with that tell-tale sign of getting older. “The brow area is one of the first areas that reveals aging. Smoothing the area can easily be achieved using a neurotoxin like Dysport,” recommends Dr. Alizadeh. You can temporarily improve the look of moderate to severe frown lines between the eyebrows (glabellar lines) with Dysport, a prescription injectable treatment.* Just one 10-20 minute treatment of Dysport can help minimize the look of your own frown lines. In other words, a more natural-not frozen-look.
Look for Creams with Key Ingredients
Your skin looses elasticity and slows down its production of collagen as you age. Eye creams and serums formulated to combat sagging skin can help treat the delicate skin around your eyes and brows. Look for products that polyhydorxy acids, antioxidants, caffeine (to help tighten skin) and that have peptides or polymers to increase collagen to make the skin around your brows firmer.
Chamomile Tea Therapy
Chamomile contains anti-inflammatory properties and drinking it not only helps your eyelids relax, but you can also use the tea bags on your eyes to treat droopy brows. Store wet chamomile tea bags in the refrigerator overnight before placing them on your eyes in the morning. Keep them on your eyelids for 20 minutes at a time to relieve sagging lids.
Give Your Brows a More Youthful Shape
Brows with sparse hair or that are naturally thin at the outer edges can make your features look unbalanced and draw attention to your droopy brow area. Properly filling in and shaping your eyebrows and highlighting your brow bone can give your brows an instantly lifted look. See an eyebrow specialist to get your brows arched professionally. This will give you a good guide to fill in your brows and highlight the right areas of your brow bone.
Maintain a Healthy Diet
“A well rounded diet is likely the most healthy way to maintain skin health, coupled with sun and tobacco avoidance, adequate hydration and hormonal balance,” says Dr. Alizadeh. Vitamin C is essential for producing collagen and elastin, which helps your skin stay firm. You can get about 100 percent of your daily intake by eating oranges, broccoli, cabbage, potatoes, strawberries and cantaloupe. To combat sunlight and free radicals that damage collagen and elastin, increase your Vitamin E intake to neutralize free radicals before they harm skin cells in the skin's barrier. Peanuts, almonds, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, vegetable oils and wheat germ are the best dietary sources for vitamin E.