Question

Asalamu alaykum.
I always have had big dark circles with dark eye bags ever since I was around 11 years old. Im 24 now I’m constantly being told everyday how I look tired and look beat up, and why don’t I ever get enough sleep. But I sleep, eat, and exercise very well. These are genetic eye bags. It gets very depressing sometimes. But I was wondering if it would be permissible to perform a procedure where they would remove the excessive abnormal looking fat underneath the eye and/or displace it to make it look more smooth instead of dark bulging fat right below the eyes.

JazakumAllah khayrun for everything you guys do.

Answer

Cosmetic procedures to rectify a deformity or defect is permissible and is not considered changing Allah’s creation.[1] Having excessively dark circles under the eyes at the age of twenty-four may be seen as an abnormality if this rate of darkening is not expected at this age. This is a fundamental point in all cosmetic surgeries.

If your affliction is as you have described, it does appear abnormal at twenty-four and can be rectified through a cosmetic procedure. However, this license would not be given to someone in their thirties or forties as one would expect some level of dark circles under their eyes.

I hope this clarifies the matter.

[1] Mufti Taqi ‘Uthmani, Takmila Fath al-Mulhim, 4: 169

Answered by:
Maulana Ikramul Hoque Miah

Checked & Approved by:
Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
Mufti Zubair Patel