Polynucleotides under the eyes: what actually changes, and when

The skin beneath the eyes is roughly a third of the thickness of the skin on the cheek. It has fewer oil glands, less collagen holding it up, and it moves thousands of times a day. So it is the first place to look tired and the last place to forgive a heavy hand.

Polynucleotides suit it for exactly that reason. They are fragments of DNA, purified from salmon, injected in very small amounts just under the skin. They do not fill. They give the skin cells a signal to repair: more collagen, better hydration, calmer inflammation.

What you would notice, and when

This is a treatment that works with your own biology, so it follows your biology’s timetable rather than the clinic’s.

• The first few days. Small bumps at the injection points, sometimes a little bruising. Both settle. Nothing else has happened yet.
• Two to three weeks. The skin feels better before it looks better: less papery, less creased in the morning.
• Four to six weeks, after the second session. This is where most people see it. Fine lines soften, the crepey texture smooths, and the under-eye looks brighter because the skin is thicker and scatters light differently.
• Three months. The full effect of a course, which then holds for around six to nine months.

What it does not do

It does not lift a hollow. If the tiredness comes from a deep groove where the eye socket meets the cheek, that is a question of structure, and a different conversation. It does not remove pigment, though brighter skin makes dark circles read as lighter. And it does not work in one session; two, sometimes three, spaced three to four weeks apart, is the honest number.

Who it suits

People in their late twenties onwards who feel their eyes look tired even when they are not. People who want the area to look rested rather than changed. People who are wary of filler, or who have had it before and found the result heavier than they wanted.

How the treatment is done

The area is cleansed and a numbing cream sits on the skin for about twenty minutes. The polynucleotide solution is then placed just beneath the surface in a series of very small amounts, six to ten points on each side, following the curve of the orbital bone rather than the fold beneath the lashes. Nothing is placed close to the eye itself. The whole treatment takes around twenty minutes, and the practitioner spends most of that time on the placement, because in an area this thin the depth matters more than the amount.

Aftercare for the eye area

• A cold compress for a few minutes at a time on the first evening, gently, without pressure.
• Sleep on your back with the head slightly raised for the first night, so fluid does not settle under the eyes.
• No eye make-up, eye creams or lash serums for twenty-four hours; from the next day, applied with a light touch.
• No heat, saunas, hot yoga or hard exercise for the rest of the day.

Small bumps at each point are normal and settle within a day or two. A bruise, when it happens, sits low on the cheek rather than under the lash line, fades within a week and hides under concealer from the second day.

If you are unsure whether the under-eye is the right place to start, the analysis is the place to begin. It costs less than most treatments and it makes every decision after it a better one.