A friend of mine asked me this the other day. The simple answer is no, wearing contacts does not cause eye wrinkles.
However, excessive stretching or rubbing the skin around your eyes does cause eye wrinkles, and sometimes people are rough with this skin as they insert their contacts. As we age, skin becomes thinner and more fragile because we gradually lose the collagen and elastin that keeps skin full and firm. This eventually causes wrinkles, which usually first appear around the eye area, since it contains the thinnest skin on the face. By frequently rubbing or pulling at this delicate skin, you are increasing the breakdown of collagen and elastin, leading to premature eye wrinkles.
There are multiple ways to keep these eye wrinkles away:
1. If you wear eye contacts, be very gentle with the eye area when putting them in. Open your eye very wide, and lightly pull the upper or lower lid away to insert the contact. If you can put your contact in without touching the skin around your eye, it’s even better, but it can be difficult to get used to.
2. Use an eye wrinkle cream that contains vitamin C, amino acids and copper peptides, which stimulate the production of collagen. Again, apply the eye cream to the eye area very gently. I recommend using your ring finger, which is a generally weak digit.
3. Wear sunscreen every day. Sun damage is one of the leading causes of premature eye wrinkles. Choose an eye wrinkle cream that contains sunscreen, and wear sunglasses regularly. If you don’t have perfect vision, one of the benefits of wearing contacts is that you can wear stylish sunglasses that don’t clip onto your glasses!