Hi everyone! This is my first post here. Hoping you can shed some light on an issue I go back and forth on. I have never had filler of any kind, only botox. I've had genetic tear trough deformity my whole life with hollowness and pigmentation. The hollowness has gotten worse and can't really be covered with makeup. (I'm in Los Angeles and open to recommendations in my area.)

It seems like when you get into the research, correcting tear troughs is one of the toughest areas to treat because in some people it can create under eye bags where there were none. So you walk out looking OK, but in 6 months it starts to droop and look worse than before. It also depends on the type filler from what I read, it needs to be a softer/lighter consistency in this area. Makes sense. Before and afters of treatment in this area tends to show a modest improvement from what I've seen. And when we're talking filler under the eyes, we're talking temporary fix with the possibility that it will age poorly.

I've also seen before and afters of people who had SIGNIFICANT improvement from injecting filler in the cheeks instead, which incidentally lifts the under eye area up, which seems like a smart fix. In that case it's a more heavy or structured filler that is recommended. I am open to this, except I wonder how big my cheeks will need to get to improve my undereye... Again a temporary fix, but if it ages nicely I'm OK with that.

Last option I'm considering is a fat transfer to the under eye area. I've seen amazing results in other people, but of course this is far more expensive and invasive. My concern here is about longevity... It's a lot to go through just to metabolize the fat transfer in 6 months to a year. Some people suggest this treatment lasts longer than synthetic fillers.

Does anyone have experience treating the under eye area with any of these methods? I'd love to hear your take on it. I worry if I 'try out' filler there's no going back. I guess they can dissolve the filler but IDK it's such a delicate area. I have severe hollows, but NO bags so I don't want to do anything that could make it worse. Pictures

Thank you for your insight :) Photo below from a few days ago with makeup... don't mind the bikini lol but this is a perfect example because in other shots they're completely hidden by makeup but in certain lighting or when my face is tilted downward it's just so noticeable.

https://preview.redd.it/r3tq8qqjvky41.jpg?width=827&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=884b76af07d559eabfb727fccf14dc2dd4aab9ba