The overlooked role of bone structure in tired eyes
With many products and treatments out there claiming to help tighten, lift and remove that baggy or droopy skin, you may not have considered that your bone structure has something to do with your tired appearance. The billion-dollar beauty industry has us believing all these problems are attributed to ageing skin when these symptoms can all be traced back to a larger issue: diminishing maxillae.
Your jawbone and tired eyes
An undeveloped upper jaw sinks and narrows your eyes. Cheeks flatten as they cave into the space that should be a wide oral cavity giving you that look of ‘tired eyes’. Each millimetre of reduced maxillary bone reduces the width between your eyes, positioning eye sockets closer to the nasal bridge instead of wide on your facial structure.
Facial features take a narrow position on your face in correspondence with the narrow oral cavity and high vaulted mouth roof. The ideal facial appearance (a facial structure that grows to its genetic maximum) should give the impression of containing a large pocket of space inside the centre of your skull, creating a face that appears to ‘pop’ rather than sink.
Old-age and eye appearance
As you grow older and your maxilla loses support and size, it sinks, leading your eyes to appear smaller, eye bags to form, sagging of your cheeks, a relative enlargement of your nose and a protruding appearance to your chin.
But, before panicking while you read all of this and think it’s too late for you, be assured that your craniofacial structure is continuously undergoing bone remodelling and is always susceptible to change, no matter how old you are. This is why we are saying start now!
Maintaining and strengthening your tongue and jaw muscles is crucial to minimise natural midface weakening and maintain a strong bone density as you get older.
How to get rid of tired eyes
Optimal nasal breathing provides the correct posture for your tongue to mould and grow your top jaw from the inside helping underlying health issues such as sinus congestion, but now we are also understanding that all of these muscle stimulants have a direct correlation to your eyes and should be practised often.
We have non-invasive means to grow human jaws and faces to their full potential which in turn can make you look and feel less tired. For some people, fluid retention results in puffy, tired eyes, so opening the blood vessels will improve blood flow around the eyes and foster movement. Try these simple exercises to improve tired looking eyes:
Eye Squint Pose
This exercise can not only improve your droopy lower eyelids, but can lift the cheek muscles as well. Firstly, place your hands on your forehead and gently lift your hairline back. Next, open your eyes wide making sure you aren’t making wrinkles on your forehead or temples, then gently lift the skin at the tear duct up. Continue holding for a few seconds and repeat multiple times.
Eye Tapping
By using the fingertips to gently tap around the eyes you can stimulate circulation to the area, resulting in the appearance of bright eyes with less puffiness. To do this exercise, firstly position the fingers so that you’re not touching the face with your fingernails. Next, widen your fingers to open up the eye. With a gentle tapping motion, slowly begin to tap the fingertips onto the lower eyelid area and move out to the eyebrows, cheeks and forehead. Continue tapping for 20-30 seconds before taking a deep breath and repeating the sequence a few more times.
For others, the assistance of orthodontic growth guidance appliances that can remodel your face skeletally without surgical intervention. Orthotropic practitioners already utilise an array of oral expansion devices that grow the internal structure of your jaws, pushing your facial framework out into a healthy and attractive position, including the appearance of your eyes.