Crow’s Feet and Frown Lines
The lines that arrive with every smile and every moment of concentration are the most satisfying on the face to soften, because they tend to respond well. At our Berkhamsted clinic, Kay Greveson and Dr Grace Adamson plan the frown, the forehead and the outer eye together, so the result is a rested face that still smiles with its eyes.
At a glance
- Areas Between the brows, forehead, outer eye, bunny lines
- Clinic Regents Park Aesthetics Berkhamsted
- Results Day 3, full effect day 14
- Lasts 3 to 4 months
What it is and why it happens
Expression lines are the record of a face that has been used well: frown lines from concentrating, crow’s feet from smiling and squinting, forehead lines from every raised eyebrow. The distinction that decides the plan is dynamic versus static. A dynamic line appears when the muscle contracts and vanishes when it relaxes. A static line is there at rest, because the skin has been folded so often that the crease has settled into the tissue.
Dynamic lines tend to respond well to muscle relaxation. Static lines improve, and they reward a plan that treats the skin as well, with skin boosters, microneedling or radiofrequency rebuilding the crease itself. Your clinician talks through timing with you, since a line that has not yet settled at rest is often simpler to soften. At our Berkhamsted clinic your clinician tells you which category yours fall into, and plans accordingly.
Treatments that address it
| Anti-Wrinkle Injections Placed into the specific muscles creating the lines you want softened. Visible from day three, full effect at fourteen days, lasting three to four months. From £180 for one area. | Skin Boosters and Polynucleotides For static lines and the thin crepey skin they sit in. No volume added, just better tissue, which is what a settled crease needs alongside muscle relaxation. From £320. | SkinPen Microneedling Rebuilds collagen through creased skin, improving static lines across a course. Suits most skin tones after a skin check, with a day or two of pinkness. From £250 full face. | Exion RF Microneedling For deeper etched lines: radiofrequency through fine needles rebuilding collagen beneath the crease. Three sessions four to five weeks apart, numbing first, a short recovery. £450. | |
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| £180 | £320 | £250 | £450 | |
| Explore Anti-Wrinkle Injections | Explore Skin Boosters and Polynucleotides | Explore SkinPen Microneedling | Explore Exion RF Microneedling |
- £180
- £320
- £250
- £450
Compared side by side
How we assess and treat
Assessment is done watching your face move rather than at rest. Kay or Dr Grace will ask you to frown, raise your brows, smile and squint, because the muscles doing the work are what gets treated, and they differ between faces more than most people expect. We look at whether each line disappears fully when the muscle relaxes: lines that vanish are dynamic and tend to respond well, lines still visible at rest are static and will soften while the skin is rebuilt alongside.
Brow position is assessed with particular care. The forehead muscle is the only one that lifts the brow, so the forehead and the frown complex are planned together, keeping the brow exactly where it should be while the lines soften. We treat conservatively at a first appointment and review at two weeks, when adding a little more is simple. Prescription-only medicines are only considered after a face-to-face consultation with a prescriber. Your clinician covers suitability, timing and aftercare at your consultation, and the team is a phone call away afterwards.
Can you treat it at home?
Sun protection is the largest single thing in your control. Ultraviolet degrades the collagen and elastin that let skin recover from folding, which is why sun-exposed skin lines earlier and more deeply. Retinol used consistently over years can improve static lines by supporting collagen, slowly and surely, working on the crease rather than the movement. Not smoking matters, both for collagen and because pursing repeatedly etches lines around the mouth. Sleeping on your back spares you the compression creasing that builds over decades, and almost nobody does it.
Nothing at home stops a muscle contracting, which is exactly what the injections do. Home care improves the skin a line sits in, the injections stop the folding that creates it, and the two work beautifully together.
Related concerns
Meet our team of experts
Your lines are assessed and treated by Kay Greveson, our founder and advanced nurse prescriber, or Dr Grace Adamson, who is in Berkhamsted every Thursday.
Frequently Asked Questions
A dynamic line appears when the muscle contracts and disappears at rest. A static line is visible at rest because the crease has settled into the skin. Dynamic lines tend to respond well to muscle relaxation, and static lines soften while skin treatment rebuilds the crease alongside.
When lines begin to linger after the expression has gone. Your clinician talks through the right timing for you at consultation.
From £180 for one area, £250 for two and £300 for three at our Berkhamsted clinic. Skin treatments for static lines are priced separately and quoted as a plan.
Movement softens from day three with the full effect at day fourteen, so book at least three weeks before an event you want to look your best for.
Three to four months. Forehead lines tend to be at the shorter end and crow’s feet at the longer end, because the muscles differ in size and in how constantly they are used.
Not at the right dose. We treat the muscles creating the lines you want softened and leave the rest working, so you keep every expression that is yours. Tell us if you have had a heavier result elsewhere and we will dose more conservatively still.
The frontalis is a large muscle in constant use, so it recovers faster than the smaller muscles around the eyes. Perfectly normal, and your review keeps the timing right for you.
We plan it alongside the frown complex, because that is what keeps your brow lifted and the result natural. Two areas is £250 and includes your two week review.
It softens them substantially. A line etched at rest is a crease in the tissue as well as a movement, so skin boosters, SkinPen microneedling or Exion radiofrequency usually run alongside to rebuild the skin itself.
Movement returns and lines return to their previous depth, and nothing is left worse than it started. Skin that has been folded less for a few years often looks a little better than it otherwise would.
EmFace lifts and tones without needles and works by a different mechanism, giving a milder, more general result. It does not relax muscle, so a frown line still wants the injections.
Kay Greveson, our founder and advanced nurse prescriber, or Dr Grace Adamson, who is in Berkhamsted every Thursday.
113 High Street, Berkhamsted HP4 2DJ, a short walk from the station and a short drive from Tring, Hemel Hempstead, Chesham and Amersham.