Dark Circles: What’s Causing Them and What You Can Do About It

Fine lines, wrinkles, age spots, blemishes and dark circles under our eyes are all undesirable skin conditions that we often willingly spend many hours trying to resolve.  Dark circles are particularly troublesome because they make us appear to be incredibly tired and worn out, and many women focus a significant portion of their daily makeup routine on concealing these unsightly dark spots.  But what actually causes them?

The Reason Behind Dark Circles and What to Do About Them

There are many possible reasons for why an individual suffers from dark circles under their eyes, including:

● Heredity/genetics.
● Accumulation of blood.
● Fatigue. 
● Sun damage.
● Stress. 
● Aging.
● Loss of fat pads.
● Iron deficiencies. 
● Micro capillaries abundantly present around the thin eye area.
● Lifestyle habits like smoking and alcohol consumption. 
● Fluid retention as in pregnancy, weight gain and excessive salt consumption. 
● Atopic Dermatitis.

If dark circles appear suddenly and don’t go away after a few days, bring significant swelling, take on the appearance of black eyes, or appear under only one eye, you may want to check in with your doctor to be sure that you aren’t suffering from a serious medical condition.  In other cases, you can often resolve dark circles by taking the following actions:

● Apply cold compresses.  A cold washcloth, bag of frozen peas or cold cucumber slices will all work beautifully.

● Elevate your head while sleeping.  This can help to minimize fluid pooling beneath your eyes while you sleep.

● Avoid excessive sun exposure.  A bit of sun exposure every day (about fifteen minutes) can help ensure that your skin receives the natural vitamin A and D it needs.  However, excessive exposure is highly damaging and should be protected against.

● Use concealing cosmetics.  For some women, dark circles under the eyes are simply a fact of life.  With proper concealing techniques, however, you can reduce or even eliminate their appearance.

If you are really serious about getting rid of dark circles under the eyes you can look into laser surgery and injections.  However, these solutions can be expensive, extremely painful and take a long time to heal from, so they’re not right for everyone.  Some over-the-counter beauty products profess to heal dark circles but may not get to the true root of the problem.  Essentially, dark circles are a fact of life that women must learn to cope with as best we can, while avoiding those things that tend to aggravate them.

Love,

Gen