Some people say that the eyes are the windows to your soul. But what happens when the frame around those windows begins to shift? Just like a house with old, sagging window frames, your eyes can show signs of wear and tear when the orbital fat begins to change.
Orbital fat is the fatty tissue around your eyes, sitting snugly within the eye socket. This fat cushions the eyes and keeps them in place. Orbital fat can affect how you look especially when you start to get older. While it is a normal aging process, there are still a few things that trigger a rapid formation. Don’t you worry because in this article, we’re going to be looking at the top five causes of orbital fat. Without further ado, let’s get right into it!
What is Orbital Fat?
Orbital fat is basically the padding around your eyeballs which serves as a protective layer that shields the eyes and helps them function properly.
The fat is located inside the bony area around your eyes, called the orbit. This fat looks yellowish and kind of lumpy. One of the jobs of this fat is to fill in the space around the eye muscles, blood vessels, and nerves, which helps to keep everything in place and safe.
Common Concerns Associated With Orbital Fat
The most common concern people have about orbital fat is the aesthetics. The orbital fat generally affects how you look. If you are a young man or woman who is dealing with orbital fat, you’ll understand how unfaltering they can be at times.
If the orbital fat shifts or shrinks, it makes the eyes look sunken and causes bags under your eyes. This makes you look older than you actually are and even more tired. The thing about orbital fat is that too much or too little of it can cause some health issues. If you lose too much far, your eyes start to look sunken, which is actually a condition called enophthalmos.
On the flip, if you have too much fat, your eyes could bulge out which is known as proptosis. Both of these conditions can affect your vision, and it can be even worse if you already have vision problems.
Causes of Orbital Fat
The fatty tissue around your eyes changes for various reasons, and these changes can impact how your eyes look and feel. Let’s break down the main causes of these changes and why they happen.
Aging: As you get older, your face naturally changes shape. The bone, muscles, and fat that once kept everything in place starts to shift, and this includes the fat around your eyes. Over time as this structure around the eyes continues to shift, the eyes become more hollow or sunken, making you look older.
Loss of Collagen and Elastic: The skin has what I like to call building blocks. These are basically collagen and elastin, which are proteins that keep the skin bouncy and firm. The body tends to make less collagen and elastin as we age, which causes the skin to sag. This loss is especially noticeable around your eyes, making the changes in orbital fat stand out even more.
Changes in Facial Contours: Your face’s overall shape changes over time. The fat pads in your face that once had a youthful, full appearance start to shrink and eventually move around. This either makes your eyes hollow or puffy, depending on where the fat goes.
In a case where you undergo a facelift, eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty), or fat grafting, the shape and structure of the face changes. These changes can alter the distribution of fat around your eyes, leading to an uneven or unnatural look.
For instance, during blepharoplasty, some of the orbital fat may be removed or repositioned to reduce puffiness or bags under the eyes. If too much fat is removed, it can lead to a hollow appearance around the eyes. On the other hand, adding too much fat in a day grafting procedure can make the eyes overly full or puffy.
Hormonal Focustuations: Hormonal functions play a huge role in his your body works, especially when it comes to body and orbital fat. The thyroid hormones help regulate your metabolism and energy levels. If something goes wrong with your thyroid, it affects the orbital fat, making your eyes look either bulged or sunken.
Also, menopause brings with it big changes, especially in hormone levels like estrogen. These shifts can reduce collagen production and cause fat to move around, especially around your eyes.
Lifestyle Factors: The way you live also has an impact on your orbital fat. A poor diet can make your skin lose its elasticity and change how fat is distributed in your face.
Stress and lack of sleep are a double whammy for your health, and eye health is no exception. Stress hormones like cortisol can break down collagen, and when you don’t get enough sleep, it causes fluid to build up under your eyes.
Underlying Medical Conditions: Believe it or not, some medical conditions can directly affect how your orbital fat looks and feels. A condition like hypothyroidism can cause puffiness around your eyes because of the amount of fluid retained around that area.
Lastly, allergies and inflammation can cause your eyes to swell and puff up. If this keeps happening, it can affect your orbital fat, either causing it to swell temporarily or leading to long-term fat loss changes in where the fat is located.
Bottom Line
Orbital fat is the cushion around your eyes, and it can seriously affect how you look and feel. As you get older, this fat changes, making your eyes look sunken or puffy. In addition, loss of collagen, changes from surgeries, hormones, diet, stress, and even medical conditions like hypothyroidism also play a role with how the eyes look.
