Malar festoons or cheek festoons usually appear under your eyes, specifically below your lower eyelid along the cheekbones. These age marks add a more tired and dull look to your face and reduce the skin glow.
Malar festoons can be caused due to natural aging, heredity, over-sun exposure, fluid accumulation under the skin, side effects of fillers, smoking habits, and variations in your weight.
Malar festoons might not seem serious but they are life threatening. They usually appear a little similar to the puffy eyes and under-eye dark circles. But in severe cases, these festoons may affect your vision too.
As a first step, you can try malar festoons exercises that can help you to manage eyelid bags. But visiting your doctor at the right time is crucial. Learn more about the Malar festoons exercises and when to consult your doctor!
Can Malar Bags Disappear?
Usually, malar bags, the puffy appearance under the lower eyelid, will not disappear on their own. Trying facial exercises, lifestyle changes, and home remedies with natural ingredients can be helpful in reducing the appearance. But it cannot guarantee you a 100% result.
If the case is severe, it is essential to consult your dermatologist to get suggestions on treatment options.
Is Natural Treatment For Malar Festoons effective?
Here, the answer is yes and no. Making some lifestyle changes and trying simple exercises can create an impact on your malar festoons or malar bags. But you cannot expect a permanent result through this.
Are you curious to know about those natural malar festoons treatments? If yes, here are some.
- Hydration – Always keep yourself hydrated by drinking more fluids. It helps your skin to be healthier and young-looking.
- Sleep – Eat more sleep-inducing foods and practice yoga. They help you get good sleep and reduce stress. Thus, you can see an improvement in your malar festoons.
- Nutritious Foods – Eat more fruits and vegetables rich in vitamins A, B, C, D, and K, proteins, omega-3, and zinc. They help in reducing the appearance of malar bags and skin nourishment.
- No to sun exposure – Avoid excess sun exposure because it can reduce collagen and elastin in your skin. When your skin loses collagen, it becomes saggy, resulting in festoons.
- Fight against addiction – Leave unhealthy habits like smoking (expose your skin to chemicals) and alcohol consumption (dries out your skin) to avoid the formation of malar bags.
If none of these natural treatments make changes to the appearance, it is time to try malar festoons exercises.
Best Malar Festoons Exercises
Following are some common and effective malar festoons exercises that help you witness small changes in malar bag disappearance.
- Facial Toning Exercises
These exercises are effective for toning and strengthening your facial muscles. By strengthening the muscles, you can see some improvement in the saggy skin and malar festoons.
For this, open your mouth, puff out and blow out the air. Repeat this for 10 to 15 minutes every 15 minutes for guaranteed results.
- Massage
- First, place your ring fingers near the inner corner of your eyes.
- Now, slowly move your hands upwards, travel through the path below your eyebrows, and reach the outer corner of your eyes.
- Slowly move down through the path below your eyelids and above your cheekbone.
- After completing one circle, again go up and down slowly and gently.
- As the skin around this area is delicate, you have to be careful if you have big nails in your fingers.
- Cheek Lifts
Even cheek lifts can provide positive results by reducing the look of your malar festoons. This exercise does it by strengthening and toning your cheek muscles.
But how to do this? First, place your fingers on your cheekbones. Now, gently move the skin upward, hold the position for a few seconds, and release. Repeating the entire steps in frequent intervals helps you achieve a better result.
- Flirty Eye Exercise
This is an effective method to treat the bag on cheeks. First, place your index fingers under the eye area above your cheeks to resist the movement of the cheek. Your fingers have to point toward the nose. Now, cover your teeth with your upper and lower lips, look at the ceiling, and hold the position for a few seconds.
- Eyebrow Movements
This facial exercise too helps tone and strengthen your cheek muscles and improve your malar bags. To do this, place your index fingers near the inner corner of your eyes. Now, close your eyes, gently move your eyebrows up, hold them for seconds, and release them. Repeat these eyebrow movements many times to tighten the skin around the eye and cheek.
When doing this exercise, do not strain your muscles.
- Move The Fluid Away
This exercise helps move away the fluid accumulation in the malar bags.
- For this, keep your index fingers near the inner corner of your eyes, move them gently through the swollen area, move upwards, reach your temples, move around your ears, reach your neck, and finally, reach the collarbone.
- Repeat these smooth movements 2 to 3 times to move away the fluid.
When To Consult A Doctor?
If you are not ok or satisfied with the results you received through natural treatments and facial exercises, or if you have yet to notice any changes in the appearance of bags on your cheeks, consulting a doctor is the best solution.
Your doctor will analyze your malar festoons to find the presence of underlying medical conditions. Only a qualified healthcare professional can do this and suggest you an appropriate malar bag treatment accordingly.
If the case is not serious, they suggest topical treatments like sunscreen, tretinoin cream, and exfoliators. Do not use any products on this delicate skin without the knowledge of your doctor.
If the case is severe, your doctor usually suggests a surgical procedure to improve malar festoons.
Surgical Treatment For Malar Festoons
Here are a few surgical procedures that reduce malar bags or malar festoons.
- Facelift
In a facelift or rhytidectomy, the excess skin or fat will be removed to tighten the muscles in that area. Thus, it reduces the saggy appearance in your cheek area and improves malar festoons.
- Endo Lift Laser
In this method, a stream of laser light will be directed to your malar bags. The concept of this method is improving collagen production through healing. When your skin produces more collagen, it fills the hollow area where fluid usually accumulates and reduces the appearance of malar bags.
- Dissolving Previous Fillers
Sometimes, you may witness malar festoons on cheeks as a result of previous filler works. Swelling caused by the fillers may make your malar festoons more visible. If the filler is a culprit, dissolving it can significantly reduce this swelling.
- Direct Excision
This method is applicable if there is excess skin hanging near your cheekbones. Here, the excess skin will be carefully taken out. They will stitch the skin after this procedure. Even though the risk is very low, there are some chances for prominent scars.
- Blepharoplasty
In blepharoplasty treatment, the excess fat and saggy skin will be moved, repositioned, and tightened based on the requirement. Thus, blepharoplasty in the lower eyelid area reduces the appearance of malar festoons.
A Word Of Caution: All cosmetic surgical procedures include some risks and side effects. In some cases, the downtime for recovery is high too. So, understanding and analyzing the benefits and side effects are essential before proceeding.
Final Words
Generally, malar bags or festoons are common in people who come in the middle- or old-age category. If you have a family history of malar bags, the chances are high in your case. Speak with a dermatologist or plastic surgeon to get clear ideas on that and avoid unwanted side effects from topical treatments.
FAQs
Q: Can you use an ice cube for malar festoons?
A: Applying ice cubes directly on the malar festoon is not advisable because it may generate skin irritation and potentially damage the smooth skin in that area.
Q: Is it possible to treat malar festoons only by correcting the sleeping schedule?
A: No. It is not possible. Yes, lack of sleep is one of the causes, but you cannot treat the malar festoons completely by changing only your sleeping pattern. There are some other factors to be considered.