The upper eyelid is where people notice age first, usually in a photograph they did not pose for. The skin above the lash line loses its structure, drops, and suddenly eye makeup sits in a crease that did not used to be there.
Surgery fixes it properly. Plenty of people do not want surgery. This is the middle option, and it is a real one, as long as you understand what it can and cannot do.
What a plasma pen actually does
The device ionizes gas in the tiny gap between its tip and your skin, creating a small plasma arc. That arc never physically touches you. It sublimates a microscopic point of surface tissue, meaning the tissue converts straight from solid to vapor.
Each of those points leaves a small carbon dot. Around each dot, the surrounding skin contracts instantly, which is the tightening you see the same day. Underneath, the controlled injury triggers fibroblasts to lay down new collagen over the following weeks, which is where the rest of the result comes from.
So there is an immediate mechanical effect and a slower biological one. The final result is at about three months.
Where it works well
- Hooded upper eyelids, mild to moderate. This is the flagship use.
- Crow's feet and crepey skin at the outer corner.
- Fine lines above the lip, the ones lipstick bleeds into.
- Loose skin under the eyes, treated conservatively.
- Small skin tags and some raised lesions elsewhere on the face and body.
Where it does not
If your upper lid skin is resting on your lashes, if you have significant fat pockets rather than loose skin, or if the hooding is affecting your vision, this is not the treatment. Plasma tightens the surface. It cannot remove volume that has descended, and it cannot address a brow that has dropped and is pushing the lid down. That last one is often HIFU territory, which I compare in Morpheus8 vs HIFU.
I turn this treatment down regularly. A disappointed client who paid for the wrong procedure is worse for everyone than a lost booking.
The recovery, told properly
People are shown the after photo. They are rarely shown day three.
Realistic timeline
- Day 0: tiny dark dots in a grid pattern across the treated area. Mild swelling begins.
- Days 1 to 3: swelling peaks, and around the eyes it can be dramatic. Sleeping propped up helps. Cold compress, not ice directly.
- Days 4 to 7: swelling drops, dots begin to flake off on their own. Do not pick them, ever.
- Days 7 to 14: dots are gone, pink skin underneath, mineral makeup is fine.
- Weeks 3 to 12: collagen remodeling. The result you keep.
Plan this around your calendar. Not the week of an event, not before a vacation, and if you work in front of people, a long weekend is the minimum.
The aftercare rules that decide your result
- Keep the area dry for the first 48 hours. No swimming, no sauna, no steamy showers on the face.
- No makeup at all until every dot has fallen off by itself.
- Do not pick, scratch or exfoliate the dots. Picking is how you get a mark that lasts a year.
- SPF 30 or higher on the area every single day for at least three months.
- No retinol, acids or scrubs until the skin is fully closed and calm.
- Sleep on your back, propped up, for the first few nights.
Darker skin: proceed carefully or choose something else
This is a controlled injury to the surface, and pigmented skin responds to surface injury by making more pigment. On Fitzpatrick IV to VI the risk of post inflammatory hyperpigmentation is real.
It is not an automatic no. It is a patch test, a conservative approach, strict sun discipline, and an honest conversation about your own history of dark marks after scratches or breakouts. For some clients, I recommend HIFU or Morpheus8 instead, because those work below the surface where this particular risk is lower. The same principles I outlined in treating dark skin with lasers apply here.
Who is not a candidate
Pregnancy or breastfeeding, active infection or cold sore in the area, recent isotretinoin, a history of keloid scarring, uncontrolled diabetes, autoimmune conditions affecting healing, and anyone who cannot commit to keeping the area out of the sun. Also anyone with a beach holiday booked in the next month.
Cost and sessions
Plasma pen treatment starts at $250 at my studio, depending on the area and how much is being treated. Many people get what they wanted from one session. Moderate hooding sometimes needs a second, done no sooner than eight to twelve weeks later, once the first result has fully settled.
Full details are on the services page. Because this treatment has the most misunderstanding around it of anything I offer, I will not book it without a consultation first. Come see me at 520 Ferry Street and I will tell you plainly whether your eyelids are a plasma case or a surgical one.
