Whether your dark circles are from too many late nights or they run in your family, you can treat them and brighten up your look. First you should consider that the skin around the eye is very delicate and should be tenderly treated. A dinner with salty food or a night of crying can also cause morning after puffiness. The reason is simple – ‘osmosis’. That is when water always travels from one area of the body where there’s low salt concentration to tissues where there is more salt.
Before we think of the solutions, we should first consider the causes to know what treatment to adopt. It is important to note that other everyday habits – including rubbing your eyes frequently, going to bed with make up on and excessive drinking can contribute to under eye bags too. Sleeping in eye makeup can irritate your eyes, causing fluids to pool. Heavy alcohol drinking causes dehydration and that weakens the delicate skin around the eyes, making it more likely to sink into a pouch.
Here are a few tips to help treat and prevent under eye dark patches:
- Try A Cream
Some ingredients can help. Caffeine tightens blood vessels and curbs puffiness. Ingredients like retinol and vitamins C and E can lighten under eye circles. But these aren’t a total cure. “I don’t think there is one treatment out there that erases them, unfortunately,” says Rebecca Kazin, MD, a medical director at the Johns Hopkins Dermatology and Cosmetic Centre.
- Camouflage
You can hide dark circles with makeup. Match the colour to your skin tone. “What you need is a shade that brightens you up under the eye,” a celebrity makeup artist, Sandy Linter says. Find a product that’s right for your skin texture. “If you’re dry, you want a light, thin makeup. And if you’re oily, you can use a waterproof concealer, which is thicker,” she says, adding “Don’t put a big swoop of concealer under each eye. Take your small camouflage brush and conceal the darkness in the inner corner of the eye and bring it down to the nose area. Blend it in, and that will lift the darkness under the eye. Practice the technique. Dark circles are really hard to hide because the skin under the eyes is thinner than the rest of the face,” she advised.
- Bag Eyes
Have a cup of tea, and then pop the moist tea bags into your fridge. Let them cool off. Lie down, close your eyes, and put the tea bags on your eyelids for a few minutes. Tea fights inflammation, and that may ease under eye puffiness and darkness.
- Beware Of Allergies
Do you rub your eyes a lot because of itchiness or other allergy symptoms? All that rubbing can leave you with dark circles. They’re sometimes called ‘allergic shiners.’ Ask your doctor about medicines to ease your symptoms. Sometimes, an antihistamine or eye drops can help.
- Wear Shades
Use sunglasses that filter out UV light. Wearing sunglasses helps because you’re not getting sun damage under the eyes that can cause darkening. Dark shades will also cover up your dark circles; that’s a bonus! They’ll stop you from squinting, which can lead to crow’s feet. If you want more help with your dark circles, see your dermatologist. You really need to be evaluated carefully to determine what is causing your under eye circles to target the problem most directly, then help you get the best results for treatment”
Eye bags are very common, and are usually not related to your health. But if at any point your bags appear suddenly and you are not suffering from allergies, infection or a cold- and they don’t ease up when you try the natural remedy listed above – then it will be good idea to see a doctor, reason being that some thyroid or kidney problems can cause under eye fluid retention.
BY MAIMUNA BAGUDU
