How to embrace or change them

You may have heard the term “hooded lids”, but what does it mean? If your eyelids are hidden by a natural fold in the skin under the brows, they are hooded. Actor Cate Blanchett’s eyelids are prime examples, indicating that hooded lids can be very attractive.

Some people are born with them, but many people’s lids become more hooded as they age and the skin around the eyes begins to droop. This is because excess skin develops between the brow and the upper lash-line as we get older and lose facial volume, collagen, elastin and fat.

At their most extreme, hooded lids can impair vision. On a less serious note, they can make applying eyeliner and eyeshadow difficult. According to British make-up guru Charlotte Tilbury, the best way to apply eyeliner on hooded lids is to keep a relaxed face.

“Keep your long-wearing eyeliner application as thin as possible and as close to your lash-line as possible,” she says. “Looking straight [ahead], don’t be afraid to follow along the lower lash line and extend your eyeliner to create a feline effect. Use the tail of your brow as a template, gliding your eyeliner upwards and outwards until it aligns with the tip of your brow.” Try Charlotte Tilbury The Feline Flick Eyeliner Pen in Panther ($48).

If you’d prefer to “lift” your lids, there are a number of options. The new, non-invasive NeoGen Plasma skin tightening treatment (from $1000) uses a high-frequency electric current to create hundreds of tiny holes on the upper lid and the face, and retraction of the skin causes a tightening and lifting effect. The lids usually take two to three weeks to heal, and the final result is seen after eight weeks. Results last up to three years.

A Botox brow lift (from $250) is another easy procedure with minimal downtime. It works by relaxing the muscles around the eyes and between the brows, and from brows to hairline. Once the Botox kicks in, it lifts the eyebrow to a higher position and draws up the lids.

The most expensive and longest-lasting option is a blepharoplasty, or a surgical eyelid lift, on either the upper or lower lid, or both. With an upper bleph, a plastic surgeon typically makes an incision along the eyelid’s natural crease, after which excess skin and fat deposits are removed and the lids stitched back together. This tightens the lid area and creates a wider-eyed look.

According to Sydney-based cosmetic surgeon Dr Michael Zacharia, the procedure works well in concert with a brow lift. “If the eyebrows are too low or have dropped over time,” he says, “the excess skin from the brow can contribute to heaviness of the eyelids, especially on the lateral aspect of the eyes.” The cost is about $5500, but the results often last a decade.