A friend tells the story you have heard a dozen times, and it still makes you laugh until your eyes water. A minute later, washing your hands in the restaurant cloakroom, you glance up at the mirror. The laugh has left your mouth, yet a small fan of lines is still sitting at the outer corner of each eye. Crow’s feet are the part of a laugh your eyes keep hold of. Anti-wrinkle injections at MediZen in Sutton Coldfield soften that echo and leave the laugh itself alone.
| Performed by | Appointment | Downtime | Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| Doctor or independent nurse prescriber, in a service led by Dr David Eccleston | A few minutes, with no anaesthetic | None, straight back to your day | Lines ease from 3 to 5 days, full result at about 2 weeks, holding for 3 to 4 months |
The treatment uses a prescription-only medicine that relaxes muscle. A few tiny, measured amounts go into the outer edge of the ring that circles your eye. A doctor or independent nurse prescriber plans and performs it. Dr David Eccleston, the Clinical Director, heads the service with close to three decades of injectable experience. Every practitioner at the clinic trained under him or joined us already teaching others.
The clever part is which fibres are treated. A real smile tightens the whole ring of muscle around the eye, but only its outer fibres fold the skin into a fan. Your practitioner softens just those, so your eyes still crinkle when you laugh and your cheeks still lift. The echo starts to fade within three to five days. By around two weeks the lines no longer settle in after every laugh.
Why Your Eyes Keep Hold of a Laugh
The muscle in question is the orbicularis oculi, a flat ring that closes your eyelids and tightens whenever you smile, squint or laugh. In the 1860s the French neurologist Guillaume Duchenne noticed that this ring is what separates a genuine smile from a polite one. A smile that reaches the eyes looks warm because this muscle has joined in. The crinkle is a good thing, and nobody sensible wants it gone.
What changes over the years is the skin on top. At the corner of the eye it is some of the thinnest on the face, with very little fat beneath it. In your twenties it springs flat the instant a laugh ends. As collagen thins and years of sunlight add up, the fold starts to linger. A laugh that once left no trace now leaves its fan behind for a minute, then an hour, and eventually all day.
Nobody earns crow’s feet by doing something wrong. Lines here are the record of a face that laughs often and squints into bright days. The pattern shows up early, too. A 2025 anatomical study photographed 184 adults aged 18 to 24 making different expressions. The commonest pattern at the side of the face ran from the outer corner of the eye towards the brow.
Fading the Echo, Keeping the Crinkle
Your appointment starts with your practitioner watching you smile, squint and relax. They are reading where your fan forms, because it is not the same on every face. A 2022 study of 323 adults in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology found several distinct patterns. Some people carry a full fan, while others gather lines mainly above or below the corner of the eye. The full fan grew commoner with age.
Once the pattern is clear, a few tiny injections go into the outer fibres along your fan, using a very fine needle. The rest of the ring is left to blink, close your eyes and lift your cheeks into a smile. Over the following days the treated fibres ease their pull. The skin beside your eye is folded less often and less tightly, and it gradually smooths.
Nobody wants a smile that stops at the mouth, and nothing in this treatment asks you for one.
Nobody wants a smile that stops at the mouth, and nothing in this treatment asks you for one. Restraint around the eyes is the discipline Dr Eccleston teaches every injector here. Placement follows the pattern you showed at the start, and the amounts are kept small. Your eyes still narrow with real amusement, and the lines simply let go once the moment has passed.
A Plan for the Whole Eye Area
Not every line near the eye is an echo of a laugh. Crow’s feet fan sideways from the outer corner and appear when you smile. Crepiness under the eye is something else, a fine, papery texture across the lower lid that shows even when your face is still. Thinning skin causes it rather than movement, so relaxing a muscle does little for it. Your practitioner looks at both before suggesting anything.
For that under-eye texture we often turn to polynucleotides, which encourage thin skin to repair and thicken over a short course. Our guide to under-eye wrinkles compares the options in more detail. Plenty of faces carry a little of both, and pairing the two gives a brighter eye area than either would alone. Your practitioner sets the order, so each treatment has room to work.
Crow’s feet are also often treated alongside the forehead or the frown lines, since the upper face moves as a team. Where a fan shows even at complete rest, treatment softens it without wiping it away. Your practitioner tells you that at the start. Sunglasses and a high factor sunscreen help too. Squinting less means the thin skin at the corner of your eye keeps more of its spring.
The Weeks After Your Appointment
The treatment takes a few minutes, and there is no anaesthetic to wait for. Most people feel a tiny scratch at each point and leave with a few faint marks that fade within the hour. You go straight back to work or the school pickup. For the rest of that day, sit upright for a few hours and keep your hands away from your eyes. The gym, saunas and facials wait until tomorrow.
From day three or so the fan begins to loosen its hold. By around two weeks the full result is in place. The corner of your eye looks smoother in bright light and in photographs. People around you remark that you seem well, or wonder aloud whether you have been sleeping better. You still laugh exactly as you did. The difference is that the lines let go when the laugh does.
The softening lasts around three to four months, after which movement comes back gradually rather than overnight. Many people book again three or four times a year. Keeping the outer fibres gently relaxed also stops the fan from etching itself deeper into that thin skin. Over a year or two, the lines that do return tend to come back finer than before.
Where Your Crow’s Feet Plan Starts
Since the medicine is prescription-only, a doctor or nurse prescriber from our team sees you face to face before any treatment is agreed. They go through your health history, watch your smile in motion and listen to what you would like to change. If something else would suit your skin better, they say so. You leave knowing the plan and the price, with no pressure to book on the day.
Treatment starts from £235, and the total rises with the number of areas treated. Crow’s feet on their own are a short appointment, and many people add the forehead or frown lines at the same visit. Every current price is on our price list, and the anti-wrinkle injections page shows each area we treat.
You will find us on Lichfield Road in Mere Green, within easy reach of Four Oaks, Little Aston and Lichfield. If your eyes have been holding on to every laugh lately, come and see one of Dr Eccleston’s team. They will watch you smile and show you how the crow’s feet treatment lets the lines go while the warmth stays.
Your Questions About Crow’s Feet
Before treating the lines around their eyes, people across Sutton Coldfield and Birmingham usually want to know the same few things. Whatever is missing here, your practitioner will happily answer at your consultation.
Crow’s feet form where the orbicularis oculi, the ring of muscle around each eye, pulls the thin skin at the outer corner into folds whenever you smile, laugh or squint. Early on the folds vanish when your face relaxes. As collagen thins and sun exposure adds up, they start to linger after the expression, and eventually they show even at rest.
Yes. Only the outer fibres of the muscle, the ones that fold the skin into a fan, are softened. The rest of the ring still closes your eyes and lifts your cheeks, so your eyes crinkle when something is funny. Your practitioner reads your own smile first and keeps the amounts small, which is what keeps the warmth in your face.
You notice the fan loosening from around day three to five, as the treated fibres ease their pull. The full result has settled by roughly two weeks. It then lasts around three to four months before movement slowly returns, and many people at MediZen book again three or four times a year to keep the corner of the eye smooth.
Very little. The needle is extremely fine and each placement takes a second, so most people describe a tiny scratch at the corner of the eye. No anaesthetic is needed and the appointment is over in a few minutes. A few faint marks are usually gone before you reach your car, and you carry on with your day.
Prices for anti-wrinkle injections at MediZen in Sutton Coldfield begin at £235, with the final figure set by the number of areas you treat at one visit. Crow’s feet are often combined with the forehead or the frown lines. Packages and memberships for regular visits appear on our price list, and your practitioner confirms the figure at your consultation.
Yes, gradually, because the effect is temporary by design. As the muscle regains its strength over three to four months, the fan begins to return, usually softer than before. Treating on a regular rhythm keeps the outer fibres relaxed, and over time that stops the folds from etching themselves deeper into the thin skin at the corner of the eye.
Lines directly beneath the eye are usually crepey texture rather than movement, so they respond better to a skin treatment such as polynucleotides. Crow’s feet sit at the outer corner and come from the muscle, which is where anti-wrinkle injections work. Your practitioner examines both areas and builds a plan that treats each one with the right approach.
There is no set age. Some people start in their late twenties or thirties, when the fan begins to linger after a laugh. Others come much later to soften lines that are already established. What matters is how your skin and muscle behave, and your practitioner will tell you plainly whether treatment makes sense for you now or later.
Yes. There is no downtime in the usual sense, so most people return to the office or the school run within the hour. Stay upright for a few hours, keep your fingers away from the area and leave the gym, saunas and facials until the following day, so everything settles where it was placed.
Keep the Laugh, Let the Lines Go
Book a consultation in Mere Green, and a doctor or nurse prescriber from Dr David Eccleston’s team will map your crow’s feet and show you what treatment involves. Phone 0121 308 4373 or reach us on WhatsApp to choose your appointment.
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