By Ray Tang, inventor of the patented Optifold double eyelid tape system, and the Optifold team · Updated 16 October 2026

Short answer: Mezaik (メザイク in Japan, 메자이크 in Korea, made by アーツブレインズ / Arts Brains) is a daytime fiber: a thin, stretchy adhesive thread that you pull taut across the open eyelid so the skin folds over it, giving an instant, deep crease that is close to invisible when it is placed well. Optifold is a two-piece nighttime tape system: an F-tape that sets the crease path on the closed, extended lid and an N-tape that supports the fold from below while you sleep, removed in the morning. Mezaik's maker does not sell a night version or position the fiber for sleep. Mezaik is the better daytime tool for many people, especially those with heavier lids who find flat strips collapse; Optifold is for people who want to practise one crease overnight so that it starts showing without anything on the lid, and it costs more per month.

• Patented design
• Made in Canada from medical-grade, latex-free 3M tape
• Award-winning U of T startup (2018 HealthEdge Challenge)
• Free eyelid assessment and placement help
• Thousands of satisfied customers

Optifold vs. Mezaik fiber at a glance

Why Optifold costs more than eyelid tape, and a fraction of double eyelid surgery

Most eyelid tape is made to be cheap and disposable: a strip that holds a fold for the day and goes in the bin at night. Optifold is built the other way round, as a premium nighttime system for people who want a double eyelid without surgery. This is what the price pays for.

Optifold vs. the cost of double eyelid surgery

In the United States, a 12-week Optifold pack costs less than 4% of the average surgeon's fee alone. Surgery is a medical procedure with anesthesia, a recovery period and a result that is hard to undo. Optifold is a cosmetic routine you do at home while you sleep: no incisions, no anesthesia, no downtime, and you can stop any night. It does not change the anatomy of the eyelid and results vary, which is exactly why many people try it before booking a consultation. More in Optifold vs. surgery.

Is Mezaik fiber the same thing as Optifold?

No. Mezaik is a daytime "pull-in" method. Instead of propping the skin up with a flat strip or bonding it with glue, a thin elastic fiber coated in adhesive is stretched across the lid along the line you want. When you open your eye the skin above the line drapes over the fiber and a fold forms; the tension in the fiber is what holds the line, and the excess at each end is snipped off. Done well, it is one of the least visible daytime methods there is. Optifold is a nighttime system with two pieces: the F-tape is placed along the crease path on the closed, extended lid and decides where the fold happens, and the N-tape sits over it and supports the fold from below while you sleep. Nothing is under tension and nothing is designed to be seen; the whole routine happens while your eyes are shut.

They answer different questions: Mezaik, "how do I get a deep, natural-looking crease right now"; Optifold, "how do I practise a crease so that it starts to show when I am wearing nothing".

How does Mezaik fiber work, and how is it used?

The maker, アーツブレインズ, sells three fiber grades in Japan, FREE FIVER 120, BLACK FIVER 120 (labelled スーパーハード, super hard) and STRING FIVER 120, each ¥1,650 for 120 fibers at Yodobashi on 16 October 2026, plus a double-sided 심플 테이프 and small liquid accessories. In Korea the 스트링 파이버 120 딥타입 sells for 20,800–26,680원 on G마켓, 옥션 and 11번가 (Danawa, same date), and three-pack bundles of the standard and super-hard grades are listed at 47,900–73,040원. The grade names (standard, super hard, string) indicate how firmly the fiber holds, so a thinner lid can use a softer grade and a heavier lid a harder one.

The technique, in outline: clean and dry the lid; peel one fiber off its backing holding both ends; stretch it so it becomes thin and taut; look slightly down into a mirror and press the fiber along the fold line with the eye half open, so the skin above catches on it; open the eye fully and check the fold; trim the ends flush with small scissors. The learning curve is real: stretching evenly, finding the right height, keeping both eyes symmetrical and trimming the ends so they do not poke the inner corner all take practice. The payoff is a fold deeper than a flat strip can produce and, on a well-matched lid, nearly invisible even without makeup.

Three things Mezaik does well, plainly: it gives heavier lids a daytime crease that strips often cannot hold, it is close to invisible when placed correctly, and the three grades let you match the fiber to your lid. Its maker also holds its own design patent in the United States for a double eyelid formation tape (D833626 S, granted 13 November 2018, inventor Hideyuki Nojiri, assigned to Arts Brains Co., Ltd.), which is worth crediting. That patent is theirs, not ours, and has nothing to do with Optifold's design.

What is different about how Optifold works?

Optifold has no tension in it and no thread. The F-tape is a shaped piece placed along the chosen crease path on the lid after the skin has been gently extended with a mirror below eye level, chin up and eyes looking down; it sets where the lid folds. The N-tape goes on second and supports the fold from below while the eye is closed, which is the job a fiber cannot do, because a fiber only works when an open lid is draped over it. Both tapes stay on for about 8–9 hours of sleep and come off in the morning: N-tape first from the inner corner outward, then the skin is released from the F-tape and the F-tape is peeled from its tail. No skin is bonded to skin.

The reason there are two pieces is consistency. A fiber is re-stretched and re-placed by hand every morning, and small differences in height and tension are part of the method. Optifold is designed to put the same crease path in the same place every night, with the F-tape's position adjustable per eye and repeatable from a photograph. It is a cosmetic product, not a medical device, and it does not change the anatomy of the eyelid. The two-piece construction is covered by Japanese patent JP6114471B2 (granted 12 April 2017) and Korean patent KR101451199B1 (registered 8 October 2014), inventor Raymond Tang. The adhesive is a medical-grade 3M latex-free adhesive. Optifold was one of four startups awarded a US$7,000 prize at the University of Toronto's 2018 HealthEdge Challenge, where U of T News described it as "a special tape to encourage double eyelids".

Which costs more per month, Mezaik or Optifold?

Optifold. A 120-fiber pack of Mezaik is ¥1,650 in Japan (about US$10) or 20,800–26,680원 in Korea (about US$15–19), and at one fiber per eye per day it lasts about two months, so the monthly cost is roughly ¥825–1,650 in Japan and 10,400–26,680원 in Korea depending on how many fibers you get through. Optifold's four-week pack is US$49.99, about US$1.79 per night, or US$40.00 per four weeks on the 12-week pack at US$119.99. That is three to ten times Mezaik's monthly cost; the gap is widest in Japan, where Mezaik is cheapest, and narrowest in Korea, where the imported price is higher.

The difference in price reflects a difference in purpose rather than a difference in quality. You are not paying Optifold for a better daytime crease; it does not give you one. You are paying for a second piece that supports the closed lid, a tape shaped for the extended lid, a routine written for nightly use, the free assessment that tells you where the tape should sit for your eyelid type, and advisors if you want them. If your goal is a crease that looks good during the day and you are happy applying something every morning, Mezaik is the better value by a long way. If your goal is to stop applying something every morning, the two products are not competing for the same money.

Can you sleep in Mezaik, and does the crease stay after you remove it? (メザイク 寝る時 / 메자이크 자고 일어나면)

People ask this in both markets. Japanese shoppers see BLACK FIVER listed in at least one "night use" roundup (Mynavi), and we expect Korean searches along the lines of "메자이크 자고 일어나면" (what happens to Mezaik when you sleep in it), a phrasing we have inferred from the questions people ask about tape in general rather than one we found verbatim. The honest answer: the maker does not position any Mezaik fiber for sleep, and the method depends on tension across an open lid. When the eye closes, the skin draped over the fiber relaxes, the fold opens out, and what remains is a taut adhesive thread doing nothing useful. There is no support piece and no part of the design meant for a closed eye.

As for whether the crease stays after removal: a daytime fiber is designed to create a crease while it is worn, and its maker does not claim otherwise; once the fiber is off, the lid is back to its own fold, as with any daytime strip or glue. Optifold was designed for the closed lid, and the published cases of Cherry, Alycia and Megan show what months of that routine looked like for three individuals; they are individual cases, results vary, and we explain the typical sequence in how long it takes a crease to hold after removing the tape.

Mezaik or regular eyelid tape for heavy lids? (메자이크 vs 쌍테)

This is the comparison Korean users actually make, and it is a daytime question with a daytime answer. Flat strips (쌍테) are cheap, quick and easy to learn, but on a heavy or hooded lid the weight of skin above the line pushes the strip down and the fold collapses by midday. A fiber pulls the line in rather than propping it up, so it holds a deeper fold on a heavier lid and is harder to spot. The trade-offs are the learning curve, the price, and that on a very heavy lid an over-stretched fiber can sit too deep or dig in. For a daytime crease on heavier lids, we would point most people to a fiber before a strip.

Optifold sits outside that choice. Hooded, heavy and uneven lids are among the eyelid types it is designed for, because the N-tape supports the fold from below rather than relying on the lid's own weight distribution, but it is doing that at night, not at the office. If one eye is heavier than the other, the F-tape can be placed at a different height or angle on each lid and the placement repeated; that is the case our advisors see most and the one the Results Guaranteed program describes as ideal. Our article on one double eyelid and one single walks through it.

Can you use Mezaik and Optifold together?

Yes, and some people do exactly this: Mezaik by day for work or an event, removed gently in the evening, and Optifold at night on clean, oil-free skin. What you should not do is put them on the same lid at the same time, or leave fiber adhesive on the skin under the F-tape; residue changes how the tape sits. Remove the fiber, cleanse, let the skin dry, then place the tapes. The category-level version of this question is in eyelid glue vs. tape vs. fiber vs. overnight tape.

Who should pick Mezaik, and who should pick Optifold?

Mezaik makes sense if you want the most natural-looking daytime crease you can get without surgery, your lids are heavy enough that flat strips give up by lunchtime, you are willing to put in the practice to stretch and trim a fiber, and you are happy with a routine you repeat every morning. It is a daytime tool with real engineering behind it, and the three grades mean you can tune it to your lid.

Optifold makes sense if you are tired of applying something every morning, you want to practise a single crease path overnight with a product designed for the closed lid, your lids are hooded, heavy or uneven and need per-eye placement, you want an assessment before you start, and you accept paying more per month than a daytime product costs.

If you are undecided, there is no need to choose. Keep using Mezaik by day, take the free Find Your Best Fit questionnaire, read the instructions once, and see whether a nightly routine fits your life. The skills overlap more than you might expect: both products reward knowing exactly where your crease line should sit.

Sources

• Yodobashi.com maker page for アーツブレインズ (Arts Brains): FREE FIVER 120, BLACK FIVER 120 (スーパーハード), STRING FIVER 120 at ¥1,650 each, 16 Oct 2026
• Danawa search "메자이크", 16 Oct 2026: 스트링 파이버 120 딥타입 20,800–26,680원 (G마켓, 옥션, 11번가; 22,250원 on 11번가); 파이버 스탠다드 3세트 47,900–64,300원; 슈퍼하드 3세트 48,840–73,040원; 심플 테이프 80매 15,450원 (SSG)
• Amazon US searches for "eyelid tape", "double eyelid tape" and "Mezaik", 16 Oct 2026: no Mezaik listing surfaced
• Mynavi おすすめ article 7449 (lists BLACK FIVER among night-use items; not a maker claim)
• Google Patents, US D833626 S, "Double eyelid formation tape", inventor Hideyuki Nojiri, assignee Arts Brains Co., Ltd., granted 13 Nov 2018
• Optifold: product page (prices, 16 Oct 2026); Google Patents JP6114471B2 and KR101451199B1; U of T News, 7 Feb 2018, "U of T startups take home prizes at health challenge event"; Trustpilot opti-fold.com, 16 Oct 2026
• Surgery prices: American Society of Plastic Surgeons, eyelid surgery cost page (average surgeon fee, upper blepharoplasty); rank-king.jp article 26214 (updated 1 April 2025); isclinic.co.kr "쌍꺼풀 수술 비용" 2026 guide (modified 4 September 2026) — checked 16 Oct 2026

See also: Optifold vs. other eyelid tapes, glues and night products · Optifold vs. D-UP Wonder Eyelid Tape · Optifold vs. Daiso eyelid tape

This article is general information, not medical advice. Optifold is a cosmetic product, not a medical device. Results from any eyelid routine vary from person to person. Mezaik, メザイク and 메자이크 are trademarks of their owner; they are used here only to identify the product being compared.