Under-Eye Bags and Dark Circles: Causes, Remedies, and Products to Eliminate Them

Focus on: Dark Circles

Dark circles are a blemish characterised by a dark, bluish colour in the lower eyelid area. They are often hereditary and become more noticeable during periods of stress. Their physiopathological development lies in a local inflammation that alters blood balance, capillary integrity, and lymphatic drainage. Specifically, blood at the dermal level leads to the conversion of hemoglobin (a protein found in red blood cells) into degradation pigments responsible for the characteristic bluish colour of dark circles.

To avoid all this, it is really important to cleanse your face every evening before going to bed (and also in the morning, as we saw above): this way, you can make sure your skin stays bright and healthy, free from impurities.

Focus on: Under-Eye Bags

Under-eye bags are a swelling in the eye area that occurs as a result of fluid retention (edema), combined with an increase in fatty tissue and a loss of skin elasticity.

Double facial cleansing: who is it suitable for?

For all skin types. Basically, it is very useful for those who opt for heavy make-up.

Causes of under-eye bags and dark circles: what are they due to?

Under-eye bags are caused by a disruption in lymphatic drainage as well as fluid build-up. They become more noticeable due to factors such as stress, ageing, water retention, hormones, diet, or allergies.

There are several causes behind dark circles:

• First cause: genetics, when a thin skin or a very deep bone structure is inherited.
• Second cause: lack of sleep, stress, overeating, smoking;
• Third cause: overexposure to the sun and resulting hyperpigmentation;
• Fourth cause: ageing, which leads to thinner skin and greater visibility of blood vessels.

Remedies for under-eye bags and dark circles: what are the best products for treating these blemishes?

For the treatment of dark circles products are mainly used with substances that have an action:

• Vasoactive, therefore able to stimulate microcirculation: butcher's broom extract, centella extract, horse chestnut extract, caffeine, peptides that perform this action.
• Antioxidant: vitamin E, vitamin C, vitamin A.
• Anti-ageing and brightening: Niacinamide

For the treatment of under-eye bags substances are mainly used with a decongestant action to reduce swelling: chamomile extract, calendula extract, peptides that perform this action.

For an instant result: use a concealer. Be sure to choose a colour that best covers them. I recommend trying it before buying.

How to prevent dark circles and under-eye bags

The eye area is more delicate than the other areas of the face both for anatomical reasons, because the skin is thinner, and because of lower sebaceous secretion.

It is essential to pay close attention to what you apply to the eye area. I am often asked whether face cream can also be applied to this area: the answer is that generally yes, it can be applied. Except, however, in cases where the cream is formulated with acids, has a fairly acidic pH, or in cases of extreme eye-area sensitivity. In this case, you should apply an eye contour cream, specially formulated for the eye area.
Eye contour cream also becomes necessary if you want to counteract the formation of dark circles and under-eye bags.

You can try to prevent the appearance of dark circles and under-eye bags by paying attention to your lifestyle. Here are some good habits:

• Get enough sleep and try to reduce stress
• Protect your eyes from the sun: wear UV-protection sunglasses and apply sunscreen.
• Stop smoking and reduce alcohol consumption: smoking and excessive alcohol intake can speed up the body's ageing process and increase the risk of dark circles.
• Massage the area: when applying eye contour cream, perform a gentle massage from the inside outward to help improve circulation.

Under-eye bags and dark circles in men: are they different from women’s?

A question that remains open, and that some of you have asked me to help their partners with, is: how should you deal with dark circles and under-eye bags when they appear in men? Are there differences compared with women’s, and if so, what are they? And what should be done for treatment? The issue of blemishes in the eye area in men deserves a separate discussion. If the aesthetic result is the same for everyone, the appearance of dark circles and under-eye bags in men requires a different treatment. This happens because the skin is not the same as in a female face: the male face generally has thicker and oilier skin than women’s, and for this reason it is necessary to use specific treatments, specially formulated. So I recommend looking for specific treatments designed specifically for men’s skincare: this way it will be possible to keep under-eye bags and dark circles under control more efficiently.

Surgery for under-eye bags and dark circles: when is it necessary

One of the good things about under-eye bags and dark circles is that they generally are not a problem that requires a doctor’s intervention: except in very serious cases where they are accompanied by other disorders, they are and remain a blemish that can be lived with. However, sometimes they can become an aesthetic issue that needs to be resolved in order to feel better and regain an intense, confident gaze. For this reason, it is possible to intervene andremove under-eye bags and dark circles surgicallythrough a procedure calledblepharoplasty. Since it is an operation related to the eyelids, blepharoplasty can be upper or lower: the latter is used to solve the problem of bags under the eyes. Specifically, it is a cosmetic surgery procedure whose aim is to reduce the amount of sagging skin under the eyes by reducing and reshaping fat and excess tissue in the lower eyelid area. Lower blepharoplasty for thesurgical correction of under-eye bagsis performed by the plastic surgeon.