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Tear trough depth and quality across age groups: a cross-sectional study

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European Journal of Plastic Surgery Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

Patients are frequently concerned with the appearance of an increasing depth of the tear trough area, but no study has yet examined the association of the depth of the tear trough with the change over time. The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship of the depth and quality of the tear trough with age.

Methods

In 108 participants, tear trough depth and characteristics were determined using the tear trough rating scale (TTRS), assessing tear trough depth, pigmentation, nasal fat pad prolapse, and lower eyelid rhytidosis. Correlations between demographics and depth were determined using Pearson’s r, while correlations between demographics and pigmentation, fat pad prolapse, and rhytidosis used Spearman’s rho.

Results

Age is significantly associated with total TTRS score (p=0.001), but there is nosignificant difference in the association between depth with age (p=0.156, p=0.240) orpigmentation with age (p=0.984, p=0.956). There is a significant difference in theassociation between fat pad prolapse with age (p=0.001) as well as rhytids with age(p=0.001).

Conclusions

Historically, tear trough depth has been felt to be associated with aging change. Increased tear trough depth is unlikely to be associated with age. Rather, rhytidosis and fat pad prolapse maintain this association with age. Understanding this information may offer benefit in educating and treating the aesthetic patient who has concerns regarding the appearance of their tear trough.

Level of evidence: Level III, diagnostic study.

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Data availability

All data and materials as well as software application support our claims and comply with field standards.

Code availability

Not applicable.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Dr. Tracy J. Koehler and Dr. Alan T. Davis at Spectrum Health OME Scholarly Activity Support for assistance in data analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Grand Rapids, MI, USA

    Caleb A. Arthur

  2. University of Michigan Department of Family Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Caleb A. Arthur

  3. Eye Plastic and Facial Cosmetic Surgery, Grand Rapids, MI, USA

    Adam S. Hassan

Authors
  1. Caleb A. Arthur
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  2. Adam S. Hassan
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Caleb Arthur and Dr. Adam Hassan. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Caleb Arthur, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Caleb A. Arthur.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

Institutional Review Board approval was obtained prior to the start of the study for conducting cross-sectional analysis of the tear troughs of live participants (Michigan State University IRB Approval Number STUDY00000737). The study complied with the tenets of the declaration of Helsinki.

Patient consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants and/or from legal guardians included in the study.

Informed consent

The authors affirm that human research participants provided informed consent for publication of their data and images.

Conflict of interest

Caleb A. Arthur and Adam S. Hassan declare no competing interests.

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This was originally presented at the American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 2019 Fall Symposium in San Francisco, CA, on October, 11, 2019

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Arthur, C.A., Hassan, A.S. Tear trough depth and quality across age groups: a cross-sectional study. Eur J Plast Surg 45, 65–72 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00238-021-01866-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00238-021-01866-6

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