Lumi Eyes vs Tear Trough Filler
By Sasha, Founder & Head Practitioner, Ministry of Faces, Leeds · September 2026 · 6 min read
Two women can sit down with the same complaint about their under-eyes and need opposite treatments.
Lumi Eyes vs tear trough filler is the question I get asked most about the eye area, and the answer depends on something you can check yourself in about ten seconds. I'll tell you how to do it further down.
One of them adds volume. The other adds none at all and improves the skin instead. Pick the wrong one and you've either wasted your money or you're puffy, and puffy under-eye filler is the thing I dissolve most.
So here's the difference, how to work out which one you are, and what I'd turn down.
I've dissolved more under-eye filler in the last two years than I've placed. That isn't a boast, it's a warning about how often it's the wrong treatment.
THE ACTUAL DIFFERENCE
What the difference between Lumi Eyes and tear trough filler actually is
Tear trough filler is hyaluronic acid injected into a hollow to fill it. Lumi Eyes is a course of polynucleotide injections, made from purified salmon DNA, that adds no volume at all and instead thickens and repairs the thin skin under the eye. One fills a dip. The other improves the skin over it.
Which means they aren't really competitors, and I wish they weren't sold as though they were. They fix two different things that look the same in the bathroom mirror at half seven in the morning.
Lumi Eyes is 2 to 4 sessions, four weeks apart, about half an hour each. A bit of freshness inside the first week, the real change at six to eight weeks after the last one, then a top-up every 6 to 9 months. It's the same family as the polynucleotides I use on the rest of the face.
Tear trough filler is one appointment, sometimes two, and it lasts 12 to 18 months in most people. It works the same day, which is exactly why it gets sold to people who shouldn't have it.
THE TEST
How to tell which one you need, tonight, at home
You can do most of my assessment yourself. This is the bit I'd normally save for the consultation.
Lie flat on your back for two minutes, then look. Hold your phone above your face. If the shadow has gone, it's a hollow, and that's what tear trough filler is for. If it's still there lying down, I won't fill it, because filler won't fix it.
Shine your phone torch down from above your head. A real hollow throws a shadow that moves when you move the light. Pigment doesn't move at all.
Pinch the skin just under the lash line, gently. If it tents up and takes a second to settle back, that's thin, lax skin. That's Lumi Eyes territory, and I won't put filler under skin like that because it shows through.
Look for blue or purple. If you can see the vessels through the skin, it's too thin for filler to sit behind neatly. I'd thicken it first.
Ask yourself: worse when you're tired, or worse all the time? Worse when tired usually means fluid and thin skin. Worse all the time, and worse in photographs, is more likely structural, and that's the one I'd consider filling.
None of that replaces me looking at you. But I usually end up at the same answer you will, and it stops you booking the wrong thing.
SIDE BY SIDE
Lumi Eyes vs tear trough filler in Leeds, side by side
Lumi Eyes | Tear trough filler | |
|---|---|---|
What it is | Polynucleotides, purified salmon DNA | Hyaluronic acid gel |
What it does | Thickens and repairs thin skin | Fills a hollow |
Best for | Crepey, thin, dark, tired-looking skin | A genuine dip between lid and cheek |
Sessions | 2 to 4, four weeks apart | One, occasionally a review at four weeks |
When you see it | A little at 1 week, properly at 6 to 8 | Same day, settled by four weeks |
How long it lasts | 6 to 9 months, then repeat | 12 to 18 months |
Downtime | Small bumps for a few hours | Bruising possible for up to a week |
If you hate it | It wears off | |
Read more |
THE HONEST BIT
The treatment I turn down most
Tear trough filler. Easily.
I say no to it more than anything else I offer, and I've dissolved more of it than I've placed over the last two years. Not because it's a bad treatment. Because it's the one most often sold to the wrong person.
Filler under thin skin goes lumpy, holds water, and can sit there looking slightly off for a year. If you've had it done and your eyes are puffier in the morning than they were before, that's what's happened. It's fixable.
WHAT HAPPENS
What actually happens, and the fortnight after
This is the Lumi Eyes timeline, because it's the one most people end up having once I've looked at them.
When | What you'll see | What to do |
|---|---|---|
Day 0 | Tiny bumps where each injection went, gone within a few hours | No eye makeup for 12 hours. Nothing hot or sweaty for 48 |
Days 1 to 3 | Possibly one small bruise. That's usually it | SPF 50 every day for a fortnight |
Week 1 | Skin looks fresher. Nobody can tell you've had anything | Book session two for four weeks' time |
Weeks 4 to 8 | The actual change. Skin thicker, shadow lighter | Finish the course |
6 to 9 months | Slow drift back | Top-up, or add Profhilo across the cheeks |
If you're not sure which one you are, book the consultation and not the treatment. I'd rather spend twenty minutes telling you that you don't need filler than take the money for it.
BOTH, AND IN WHAT ORDER
Can you have both, and which one comes first
Yes, and a fair few people should.
The order matters. I'll do Lumi Eyes or polynucleotides first, three sessions, then look at you again.
Thicker skin holds filler better and shows less of it. And quite often the hollow you were worried about has stopped being obvious once the skin over it is behaving. If it's still there, I'll put a small amount of filler in on a cannula. Small means small.
Doing it the other way round works too. It just means paying for filler you might not have needed.
And the under-eye is rarely the only thing going on.
If the cheeks have flattened, the shadow gets worse no matter what I do underneath. So cheek filler or a skin booster across the midface is often the better first move, and Jalupro is the one I'd reach for.
Thicker skin holds filler better and shows less of it. That's the whole argument for doing it in this order.
Plainly, then. Lumi Eyes if the skin is thin, crepey, dark or just tired. Tear trough filler if there's a real dip that disappears when you lie down.
Neither, if your eyes are puffy rather than hollow. Filler makes puffy worse and Lumi Eyes won't touch it, and I'd tell you that rather than sell you something.
Consultations are free, they take about twenty minutes, and nothing gets done on the day unless you want it done.
QUESTIONS I GET ASKED
Under-eye questions I answer every week
Does Lumi Eyes get rid of dark circles?
It lightens the sort that come from thin skin, because thicker skin hides what's underneath. It won't touch genuine brown pigment, and it won't fix a shadow that's really a hollow. Do the lie-down test above. If it's pigment, tell me and I'll take you a different route.
How long does Lumi Eyes last?
Around 6 to 9 months after a full course of 2 to 4 sessions, then a single top-up keeps it going. I book most people in twice a year and that's plenty. It isn't permanent and nothing in this area is.
Does Lumi Eyes hurt?
Less than people expect. It's a series of tiny injections and it stings for a second each time, and most people don't want numbing cream by the second session. It's the one bit of the face where I'd say the anticipation is worse than the treatment.
How long does tear trough filler last?
12 to 18 months in most people, and sometimes longer under the eye because the area moves less. That cuts both ways: if it's wrong, it's wrong for a while. Which is why I'd rather assess you properly than book you in the day you ask. Read the tear trough post first.
Why do my under-eyes look puffy after filler?
Usually because it's sitting too superficially in skin that was too thin to hide it, and it's holding water. It won't settle on its own. Dissolving it takes ten minutes. I do this most weeks and nobody needs to feel daft about it.
Can you have Lumi Eyes and tear trough filler at the same time?
Not in the same appointment. I'd run the Lumi Eyes course first, wait, then decide about filler with the skin already improved. That order saves people money more often than it costs them any.
Where can I get Lumi Eyes in Leeds?
With me, at Ministry of Faces on Leeds Road in Rawdon, LS19 6AX. Five minutes from Horsforth and Yeadon, easy from Guiseley, Bramhope and Ilkley, twenty minutes out of Leeds city centre and straightforward from the Bradford side. Parking outside. Consultations are free. Book online or get in touch.
Book a free consultation in Leeds
Come in and let me look at it in daylight. I can usually tell in ten minutes whether it's a skin problem or a volume problem, and you'll leave with a plan either way.
Ministry of Faces, Realtex House 2, Leeds Road, Rawdon, Leeds LS19 6AX. Call 0113 517 8178 or book online. Free consultations, no obligation.
Worth a look while you decide: Lumi Eyes, polynucleotides, tear trough filler, skin boosters, treatment packages and gift cards. The full treatment list and the common questions are here, and which skin booster is which will save you a lot of Googling.
Sasha is the Founder and Head Practitioner at Ministry of Faces in Rawdon, Leeds. She has been recognised as Best Aesthetic Practitioner UK, and the clinic has been awarded Best Salon. She has been injecting for over a decade. Read more about the clinic, or say hello.
General information, not medical advice. Individual results vary.
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