After filling the temples,

People say their eyes look bigger,

but the real reason is elsewhere

Last Thursday,

a woman in her early 40s came in.

She came for a consultation about eye correction,

but looking at the photos, the eyes were not the problem.

"Doctor, my eyes keep looking droopy.

Should I get an epicanthoplasty or eye correction?"

When she asked that,

to be honest, my eyes were drawn to her

temples before her eyes.

They may look similar, but

the key point is different

Temple filler is a procedure that fills in volume in the temple,

that is, the hollow area beside the outer brow.

It restores volume there.

When many people hear about eye lifting,

they first think of thread lifting or eye correction,

but those are procedures that pull upward.

Temple filler is different.

It does not pull; it supports.

The principle is completely different.

Key Insight

When you restore volume to the temples, the outer corners of the eyes rise,

creating a tent effect that makes the eyes look bigger.

It works by supporting, not pulling.

That female patient in her 40s I mentioned earlier

ended up getting temple filler instead of eye correction,

with 1.5 cc on each side.

She came back two weeks later, and even she was surprised.

"I didn’t do anything to my eyes,

so why do they look bigger?" she said.

This is the tent effect.

When you set up a tent, if you put one pole in the center,

the surrounding fabric lifts all around, right?

The face is the same.

As we age, the fat layer in the temples gets thinner,

and the bone is also subtly resorbed.

Once this area starts to sink,

the outer brow area begins to descend with it.

Anatomically, the temporal fascia and

the SMAS layer around the eyes are connected,

so when the temples hollow out, the eyes are pulled downward too.

So if you fill the temples with about 1 to 2 cc of filler

in the deep layer above the periosteum,

that connected fascia lifts upward,

and the outer corners of the eyes rise by about 2 to 3 mm on average.

Director Wi Young-jin’s Key Summary

Just because your eyes look droopy

doesn’t mean you have to treat the eyes themselves.

If the temples are hollow,

it’s often much more natural and less burdensome

to support the temples first.

The eyes stay the same, but look bigger—

that is the tent effect.

This is how I divide it up in the exam room

However, the temple area

has many blood vessels running through it.

It must be injected carefully with a cannula

into the deep layer above the periosteum.

If performed by a skilled practitioner,

it recovers faster than almost any other procedure

and has a very high satisfaction rate for the results.

The three questions I get most often in the clinic

Q1. If you get temple filler,

won’t your face look bigger?

Actually, it’s the opposite. When the temples are hollow,

the area between the cheekbones and forehead looks sunken,

making the face look more angular and larger.

Filling the temples smooths the side profile,

so the face actually looks smaller.

Q2. How long does it last, and

about how much does it cost?

Hyaluronic-acid fillers usually last 12 to 18 months,

and long-lasting fillers can sometimes last close to 2 years.

We usually start with 1 to 1.5 cc

and decide after a month whether more is needed.

Q3. What are the side effects or precautions?

The rule is to use a cannula instead of a needle

and inject into the deep layer above the periosteum.

On the day of the procedure, avoid saunas, strenuous exercise,

and alcohol,

and tenderness when pressing the area can remain for about 2 weeks.

If you’re unsure whether temple hollowing is an issue,

send front and side photos by KakaoTalk.

This has been Wi Young-jin.

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