Crow’s feet are the lines patients are most ambivalent about, and for good reason. They come from smiling. The same muscle that creates them closes your eye and participates in every genuine expression of pleasure you have ever had, which is why treating them too aggressively produces a face people find slightly wrong without being able to say why.
Sam Assassa, MD has been featured on Good Morning America and KTLA for his work in non-surgical aesthetics. He founded Beverly Hills Aesthetics in 1995, is board certified in Internal Medicine, and has performed more than 25,000 aesthetic procedures.
What Causes Crow’s Feet
The orbicularis oculi is a ring of muscle surrounding the eye. It contracts when you smile, squint, or close your eye, and the skin at the outer corner folds each time.
The skin there is among the thinnest on the face, so it creases more readily than skin elsewhere and recovers less well as collagen declines. Sun exposure accelerates it substantially, and so does squinting, which is why people who spend time outdoors without sunglasses develop them earlier.
They typically begin as lines that appear only when you smile and gradually become visible at rest, which is the transition worth catching.
Dynamic Versus Static
Dynamic lines appear when you smile and vanish when your face relaxes. These come from muscle movement and respond well to relaxing that muscle.
Static lines are visible when your face is completely still. The skin has creased permanently, and no amount of muscle relaxation unfolds it. These need the skin treated rather than the muscle.
Most people have dynamic lines for years before they become static, which is why treating early tends to keep them from etching. Once static, the honest answer is that muscle treatment softens them and something else is needed to address the skin.
The Trade-Off Nobody Explains
Because the muscle producing crow’s feet is the same one participating in a genuine smile, there is a real trade-off between smoothness and expression.
Treating heavily removes the lines and flattens the smile, producing eyes that stay wide and still while the mouth moves. Most people cannot name what is wrong but they register it. Treating conservatively softens the lines while leaving the smile recognisably yours.
That balance is a choice rather than a technical constraint, and it is worth stating what you want at consultation.
How Crow’s Feet Are Treated
- Botox® for crow’s feet relaxes the muscle creating the folding. This is an FDA approved indication, at an approved dose of 12 units per side.
- Fractional CO2 resurfacing or microneedling addresses lines already etched into the skin.
- Temple treatment restores volume at the outer eye where hollowing has increased the tension on the skin.
Patients with established static lines generally need both muscle and skin treatment, in that order.
Have Your Crow’s Feet Evaluated in Beverly Hills
Dr. Assassa will look at your eyes at rest and while smiling, tell you which of your lines are dynamic and which have set, and discuss how much movement you want to keep. Request a consultation or schedule your appointment online.