10 Ways to Hydrate The Eye Area

Keeping your complexion moisturized is an important part of maintaining healthy skin, especially if your skin is compromised or particularly parched. One area of the face that’s known for drying, sagging, and showing general signs of skin degradation such as fine lines and wrinkles sooner than other areas is the skin underneath and around the eyes.

The area around the eye is 40% thinner than the rest of the face, therefore dehydration is more evident, as with other ailments like puffiness, dark circles, lines and wrinkles, as well as other signs of aging. Fortunately, there are some steps you can take to make sure the skin around your eyes stays hydrated, plump, and healthy!

Find out why the skin around the eyes tends to dry out, and the best tips for how to hydrate the eye are to keep it looking and feeling its best!

1. Up Your Water Intake

Keeping the body hydrated with adequate fluid intake is important for everyone. Whether it’s the skin around your eyes, on your hands, neck, face, or any part of the body, hydrating from the inside is just as important—if not more—as moisturizing the surface with creams and serums, so be sure to get your recommended half a gallon of water a day to hydrate the eye area.

2. Steer Clear of Drying Culprits

When it comes to protecting the skin around the eyes, staying proactive by avoiding known skin-driers on a regular basis, to the best of your ability, may save you from dealing with dry skin down the road. Sun damage, caffeinated beverages, dehydration, and/or alcohol can make dryness worse, so it’s important to remember to avoid caffeinated beverages and alcohol, and wear sunscreen!

3. Wear Sunscreen

To that last point… hopefully, everyone is wearing SPF every day, as it’s not only a proven defense against sun damage, but skin cancer as well. However, even the most devout sunscreen applier can sometimes neglect important areas, like around the eyes. We often forget the eye area when applying products for fear of getting formula in our eyes, but don’t forget to carefully dab some sunscreen around your eyes in the morning and reapply throughout the day for optimum coverage.

4. Use a Humidifier

Humidifiers not only help with congestion and other cold symptoms, they’re also a great way to treat dry skin easily and effectively. The skin around the eyes is thinner than other areas of the face and body. This makes the skin more susceptible to external conditions such as low humidity which can lead to dry skin. If you live in a naturally dry climate, or if you notice signs of dryness during windy or winter months, sleeping with a humidifier can add much-needed moisture to your skin while you rest. An easy fix to hydrate the eye area!

5. Reach for the Right Products

I recommend investing in a dedicated eye serum/cream. Serums are best for people with oily skin, and eye creams are recommended for people with dry skin because you also don’t want wrinkles either. The formula isn’t the only thing to consider—active ingredients can help deliver the results you want. Look for products containing ingredients like hyaluronic acid and glycerin which can moisturize the epidermis to minimize the appearance of fine lines.

6. Invest in Your Skin

The skin is our largest organ, and it needs care and attention in order to function at its highest potential. Keeping healthy habits will go a long way toward great skin, and taking the time and care to invest in and apply products designed for the skin around the eyes may show even more improvements. We’ll of course recommend creams, masks, and serums to get the job done and hydrate the eye area.

7. Treat Your Allergies

Allergies often come with itchy eyes and rubbing that area of the face can lead to microtears, stretching, and general stress which can dehydrate. If you have allergies, speak to your physician about getting antihistamines, like Allegra or Zyrtec. Lymphatic drainage massages that you can do yourself can reduce the puffiness, and leveling your pillow so that water doesn’t pool underneath your eyes can help address concerns around puffiness.

8. Talk to Your Esthetician About Eye Treatments

If you’re battling dry eye skin and nothing you’ve tried produces real change, it may be time to book a facial and add an eye treatment to it. Because the skin around the eyes is so thin and sensitive, the last thing we want to do is traumatize it by constantly dabbing and applying creams and serums over and over. For exfoliating the eye area, leave it to the professionals!

9. Always Honor Your Eyes

The bottom line when it comes to keeping the skin around your eyes looking and feeling its best? Don’t forget about it! This goes beyond applying specially-formulated eye creams—the eye area should be protected with SPF and sunglasses whenever possible, and moisturized daily, like the rest of your skin. The best advice is not to neglect the eye area. Most people are good about applying face moisturizer, but often neglect the eyes, neck, decolletage and hands.

10. When in Doubt, Book a Facial

One of the best ways to take care of our skin is to have regular monthly facials. With the skills of a licensed esthetician and access to professional-grade tools, your face will be revitalized in a way that you wouldn’t be able to achieve at home – and that includes the eye area. Refresh your face and leave the spa with plumper, glowing skin that means you’re taking good care of yourself from the inside out. Botanica Day Spa is your #1 choice for the best facials in Clearwater. See for yourself how amazing it can be to hydrate the eye area. Book a facial today!

Love,

Gen