Crow’s Feet

What are Crow’s Feet?

Crow’s feet are small wrinkles of the skin around the outer corners of your eyes.  As you grow older, the delicate skin of your face may develop wrinkles in areas such as the forehead, eyes, and mouth.  Some wrinkles are visible all the time (static wrinkles), while others (dynamic wrinkles) are only visible when you move your facial muscles.  Crow’s feet may either be static or dynamic wrinkles.  In this article we’ll discuss the prevention and treatment for crow’s feet wrinkles, including how cosmetic acupuncture can help.

Crow's Feet

How Can I Prevent Crow’s Feet?

If you don’t have crow’s feet wrinkles, you may be wondering how you can prevent them from occurring.  Some effective measures include wearing a good sunscreen every day, limiting sun exposure, and wearing polarised sunglasses when you’re in the sun.  It’s also important to eat many nutritious fruits and vegetables, as well as whole grains and healthy oils (like nuts, avocado, and olive oil). This helps your skin get the nourishment it needs.  Another way to help prevent wrinkles like crow’s feet is to exercise every day. This helps to get your blood moving so that oxygen can flow to your skin.

Crow’s Feet Treatment Options:

There are many treatment options to help reduce crow’s feet.  These range from creams and moisturisers to chemical peels, Botox, dermal fillers and laser resurfacing.  While moisturisers and prescription or over-the-counter creams can be quite effective at reducing fine lines and wrinkles, they may not work for deeper wrinkles.  Chemical peels and laser resurfacing may be used to treat deeper crow’s feet.  However, both these treatments can be painful, as they remove the outer layers of your facial skin.

A combination of treatment options could work for you, depending on your outcome goals and the severity of your crow’s feet.

Crow's Feet

Cosmetic Acupuncture for Crow’s Feet: 

If you’re looking for an effective, natural treatment option for reducing crow’s feet, cosmetic acupuncture may be right for you.  Acupuncture can help to heal many health problems including cosmetic issues like crow’s feet.  And the great thing about acupuncture is that it’s not as harsh as other skin treatments like chemical peels and laser resurfacing.

Acupuncture is one of the main components of Traditional Chinese Medicine.  In this treatment, your acupuncturist will place thin needles into specific acupoints on your body.  These acupoints link to the complex network of energy meridians throughout your body.  

While needles can be applied directly to the affected facial area to treat crow’s feet, there is another important method acupuncturists use to heal your body.  This involves balancing the energy of the vital organs in your body.  Since all the organs of the body are connected, if one organ is weak or out of balance, this can create health issues in other parts of the body.  Therefore, to fully treat problems like crow’s feet, your practitioner can strengthen any weaker organs through acupuncture. Our highly qualified practitioners can use techniques like this to treat crow’s feet naturally and effectively. To find out more about cosmetic acupuncture, click here.

Conclusion:

Crow’s feet are the wrinkles that appear on the outer corners of your eyes as you age.  You can help prevent crow’s feet from occurring by reducing sun exposure, wearing sunscreen, eating a healthy, nutritious diet and exercising regularly.  Treatments for crow’s feet depend on the severity of your wrinkles.  Small wrinkles can usually be treated with creams or moisturisers, while other treatments like laser resurfacing and chemical peels may be prescribed for deeper wrinkles.  However, acupuncture can treat any type of wrinkles, by healing your body in a natural, holistic way.

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Centre of Balance Hamilton: Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine (n.d.). Archive for category: Cosmetic Acupuncture. https://balancetcm.co.nz/category/cosmetic-acupuncture/

Osborn, C. (2019, March 8). Treating, Concealing, and Preventing Crow’s Feet. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/beauty-skin-care/crows-feet

Phua, S. (n.d.). What Is Traditional Chinese Medicine? Centre of Balance Hamilton: Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine. https://balancetcm.co.nz/traditional-chinese-medicine-hamilton/

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Monica

I am originally from Hebei province in China. I hold a NZ bachelor’s degree of health and science with a major in acupuncture. I am honoured to be an acupuncturist at Centre of Balance. Helping patients to alleviate their pain brings me the greatest joy. Chinese medicine emphasises the unity of human beings and nature. During the treatment, I hope to not only relieve your pain but also help you to understand the principles behind acupuncture’s effectiveness, as well as the significant impact of diet, emotions, lifestyle habits, and living environments on disease recovery. Self-healing is an ability that our bodies are naturally endowed with.

I studied acupuncture in New Zealand and completed one and a half years of supervised clinical internship before graduating. In the early stage of my training, I mainly worked with patients experiencing neck, shoulder, and lower back pain. Under the guidance of senior clinical tutors, I gradually developed hands-on experience and confidence in treating musculoskeletal pain conditions.
As my clinical exposure expanded, I began treating a wider range of internal conditions. Alongside traditional acupuncture, I was introduced to Umbilical Acupuncture and Tungs-acupuncture Points. What interested me most about these approaches is that they often do not require needling directly at the painful area, yet can still achieve very effective results.
I was especially inspired by observing my supervisor use Umbilical Acupuncture to treat common conditions such as insomnia, menstrual irregularities, and even rheumatoid arthritis, with very positive outcomes. Another supervisor was highly skilled in Tungs-acupuncture Points and achieved excellent results in treating pain, infertility, menstrual disorders, and a variety of women’s health conditions. After completing my studies and entering clinical practice, once I observed Dr. Szenan Phua using Tungs-acupuncture points to help cancer patients relieve pain, which further strengthened my trust in this treatment method.
I later completed training in Dr. Tan Balance Acupuncture, which had a strong influence on the way I approach treatment. One of the most noticeable features of this method is how quickly patients often feel improvement, especially with pain conditions. Dr. Szenan Phua’s New Balance Acupuncture combines meridian regulation with structural adjustment and internal organ balancing, including techniques such as pulse balancing and spinal adjustment.
From my clinical experience, pain is rarely just a local issue. It often involves underlying organ weakness or structural imbalance. When these aspects are addressed together, treatment can be more thorough and longer-lasting. I also apply this approach to internal conditions, particularly in fertility and women’s health. This includes supporting natural conception, IVF preparation and embryo transfer, pregnancy support, early-pregnancy nausea, and late-pregnancy labour induction. I combine these treatments with concepts learned from a few additional fertility training, which has given me a broader and more flexible clinical perspective. This has reinforced my belief that acupuncture should be adapted to each individual rather than applied through fixed formulas.
Two other areas of study that have been very helpful in my clinical work are Tongue Diagnosis and Dr. Zhu’s Scalp Acupuncture. Although tongue diagnosis is taught in my standard Chinese medicine training, further study allowed me to deepen and refine my diagnostic skills.
My first formal training was in Li’s Tongue Diagnosis, which looks not only at organ patterns, but also at how different areas of the tongue reflect the body’s structure. This system also explores personality traits and changes during pregnancy, making it both clinically useful and engaging. I later attended online lectures on Yin’s Tongue Diagnosis and studied the related materials independently. this learning has helped me make clearer and more accurate pattern differentiation, allowing my acupuncture treatments to be more targeted. It covers a wide range of conditions, including skin disorders, oncology-related presentations, mental health patterns, and joint or limb problems. In practice, tongue observation often provides valuable insight even before a patient begins describing their symptoms.
In addition to the methods above, I regularly use local bloodletting techniques, which can be very effective for improving circulation, reducing swelling, and relieving pain. I also incorporate auricular (ear) acupressure and stimulation, which I commonly use for allergies, insomnia, headaches, stress management, and various internal conditions.
In my clinical work, I value taking the time to listen carefully to each patient and to understand their overall health, lifestyle, and concerns. Based on each individual’s condition, I also provide personalised dietary guidance and lifestyle or wellness advice to support overall health and long-term wellbeing. I commonly support patients with musculoskeletal pain, such as neck, shoulder, knee, and back pain, as well as stress-related conditions, sleep issues, migraines, digestive concerns, and women’s health and fertility-related conditions.