What Is the Best Treatment for Crow's Feet?
By Sasha, Founder & Head Practitioner, Ministry of Faces, Leeds · October 2026 · 7 min read
The best treatment for crow's feet is anti-wrinkle injections, and for most people that's the entire answer. Prices from £219 for one area, three to five days before anything moves, two weeks to finish, and it holds for 3 to 4 months.
If your lines only show when you smile, you can stop reading and book. It only gets complicated for the other half, whose lines are still there when their face is doing nothing.
Crow's feet are the fan of lines at the outer corner of the eye, made by the orbicularis oculi, a ring of muscle you squeeze every time you smile or squint. The skin there is about half a millimetre thick, thinner than anywhere else on your face, so it creases earliest.
They're not dehydration, and they're not an eye cream you forgot to buy.
I get asked about this by women in their early thirties far more than five years ago. I don't think they have more lines than they used to. I think people have stopped pretending the only thing they care about is the forehead.
If your lines only show when you smile, injections will fix them. If they're there right now, injections will soften them and nothing more.
THE SHORT ANSWER
What Is the Best Treatment for Crow's Feet?
Anti-wrinkle injections are the best treatment for crow's feet, from £219 for one area. They start working in 3 to 5 days, peak at 14 days, and last 3 to 4 months. Lines that stay visible when your face is still need skin work instead, usually polynucleotides or a course of three peels.
The order matters more than the choice. I treat the muscle first because it's quick and it's the cheaper half, and at two weeks I can see how much was ever muscle. Anybody selling skin work on day one is guessing, and charging for the guess.
Anti-wrinkle injections first. Two points per side, three if the muscle is strong. I'd rather underdo it and top you up than flatten your smile.
Wait 14 days and look again. Not 7. At 7 days you're half treated and everybody panics.
Polynucleotides if crepe is still there at rest. Three sessions, two to three weeks apart, then twice a year. I use Illuma Luna around the eyes.
A medical grade peel from £129 for texture, or PRP micro-needling from £329 for collagen. Three of either, four weeks apart.
Sunscreen, daily. More of your crow's feet are sun than muscle, and I can't tell you the exact split. Neither can anybody quoting you a percentage.
WHY THEY TURN UP
Why Do You Get Crow's Feet?
Two things stacked. The muscle folds the skin thousands of times a day, and ultraviolet light breaks down the collagen that would spring it back. I see them earliest on people who've spent twenty summers squinting without sunglasses. They usually arrive before forehead lines, and mid thirties is typical.
THE TIMINGS
How Long Do Anti-Wrinkle Injections Around the Eyes Last?
3 to 4 months around the eye, a little shorter than the forehead. Softening at 3 to 5 days, the full result at 14. I'd rebook you at 12 weeks if you'd rather never see them return, or treat twice a year.
Why it lasts 5 months in one person and 10 weeks in another, I don't know. Strong muscles and a lot of exercise seem to shorten it. Anybody confident about the rest is making it up.
Your first appointment with me is 30 minutes and the injections take about 5. It stings for a second at the outer corner and almost nowhere else. No numbing cream needed.
LINES THAT DON'T MOVE
Will It Work If Your Crow's Feet Show at Rest?
Partly. Relaxing the muscle softens an etched line because you stop re-folding it, and it improves over two or three rounds. But I can't rebuild collagen by relaxing a muscle. Expect improvement, not erasure.
A woman of 47 came in last spring wanting exactly that. Two years on a £92 eye cream, factor 15 in her day cream and nothing separate.
I treated the muscle, we looked at day 14, and two thirds had gone. The last third was sun. Three peels and a proper SPF took most of it, and the £92 cream is still in her bathroom.
Option | Best for | Seen by | Lasts | Prices from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Anti-wrinkle injections | Lines when you smile | 14 days | 3 to 4 months | £219 |
Polynucleotides | Crepe at rest | 4 to 6 weeks | 6 to 9 months | Free consultation |
Medical grade peel | Surface texture | 7 to 10 days | 2 to 3 months | £129 |
PRP micro-needling | Collagen, thin skin | 6 to 8 weeks | 9 to 12 months | £329 |
Filler in the lines | I don't do it | n/a | n/a | Not offered |
Prices from £219 for the injections, and the skin work is the part nobody budgets for. I'd rather say that now than at the till.
WHAT I WON'T SELL YOU
Does Filler Work for Crow's Feet?
No, and I don't offer it. Filler into the fan of lines at the corner of the eye sits badly in skin that thin, it can go lumpy, and in some people it casts a bluish shadow. You'll find clinics that will. I'm not one.
Two points per side, kept away from the lid, gets nearly all of the result and none of that. If a clinic offers you the full starburst on a first appointment, I'd call that a sales process, not an assessment.
I'd rather you came back at two weeks for a top up than walked out of here unable to smile properly at your own kids.
THE BATHROOM SHELF
Do Eye Creams Work for Crow's Feet?
Barely, and the price of the pot has nothing to do with it. The two things I'd keep are a sunscreen you'll actually wear and a retinoid used slowly. The rest is comfort.
A £12 CeraVe moisturiser does the job of a £90 one, and any SPF 50 you'll reapply beats a better one you won't. What I'd stop: scrubbing the area, a retinoid nightly when you've just started, and dragging the skin sideways taking mascara off. That one's free.
Start a retinoid two nights a week for a month, then every other night. Stop 5 days before any peel. If your eyes sting you're using too much, not the wrong brand.
WHO IT SUITS
Who Is a Good Candidate for Crow's Feet Treatment?
If you're in your thirties or forties and your lines crease when you smile then mostly vanish, the best treatment for crow's feet is about as reliable as anything I do.
I'd ask you to wait if your lower lids are loose or puffy, if you're pregnant or breastfeeding, or if what bothers you in photographs is hollowness underneath rather than lines beside. That last one is common, and it's a tear trough filler question or a Lumi Eyes one, not a muscle question.
WHAT TO PAIR IT WITH
What Else Is Worth Treating at the Same Time?
Most people having their eyes done do the top third together, because softening one makes the other two obvious. Three areas is £289, less than two separate visits, and the package prices drop from there.
The pairings I suggest: a brow lift from £259 if your eyes look heavy as well as lined, bunny lines from £199 for the creases that appear across the nose once you start scrunching instead, and a Profhilo or skin booster course if the face has gone flat.
If this is your first injectable, the same worry comes up with lips, and I've written about how long a lip flip lasts.
People drive to us from Ilkley, Guiseley and Bradford, because the idea that careful eye work only happens in London or Manchester stopped being true in Yorkshire a long time ago.
Treating one third of the face and leaving the other two is how people end up looking done rather than rested.
MORE QUESTIONS
More Crow's Feet Questions
Can you get rid of crow's feet permanently?
No, and anybody promising that is selling something. The best treatment for crow's feet is maintenance rather than a cure: injections last 3 to 4 months, skin work 6 to 12. What does change for good is how fast they deepen, because a muscle that isn't folding the skin daily isn't carving the line in further.
How much does crow's feet treatment cost?
From £219 for crow's feet alone, the same as any single area. Two areas from £259, three from £289, so adding your frown costs less than you'd think. A peel is from £129, PRP micro-needling from £329. Polynucleotide pricing is confirmed at your free consultation, and it's all on the booking page.
At what age do crow's feet start?
Mid thirties for most, late twenties if you're fair, outdoors a lot, or you smile with your whole face. Starting early on a lighter dose, which is what a baby dose is for, is easier than chasing a deep line at 55.
Does it hurt, and how long does it take?
It stings for a second or two at the outer corner. Four small injections, about 5 minutes, no numbing cream, no downtime. Drive home to Horsforth or Yeadon and go back to work. Don't rub it or do hot yoga for 24 hours.
Will my smile still look normal?
Yes, if the dose is right, and that's mostly what you're paying me for. You'll still crinkle a little, which you want, because a still eye area in a moving face looks stranger than the lines did. If you've been overdone before, say so and I'll start lower. Lines beside the eye answer to anti-wrinkle injections, hollows underneath don't.
Where can I get crow's feet treatment in Leeds?
Ministry of Faces, Realtex House 2, Leeds Road, Rawdon, Leeds LS19 6AX, five minutes from Horsforth and Yeadon, an easy run from Guiseley, Bramhope, Ilkley and Bradford. Parking is outside and consultations are free, so get in touch or book your appointment.
COME AND SEE US
Book a Free Consultation in Leeds
If you're not sure whether your lines are muscle or skin, that's what a consultation is for and it costs nothing. I'll tell you if you don't need anything yet, which happens more than you'd think.
Ministry of Faces, Realtex House 2, Leeds Road, Rawdon, Leeds LS19 6AX. Call 0113 517 8178 or book online. Crow's feet from £219, consultations free.
Have a look through the skin treatments, the facials from £89, or the gift cards for somebody who'd never book it themselves.
Written by Sasha, Founder & Head Practitioner at Ministry of Faces, Rawdon, Leeds. Recognised as Best Aesthetic Practitioner UK, and the clinic has been awarded Best Salon.
General information, not medical advice. Individual results vary.
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