Reducing Dark Circles Under Eyes

Although dark circles under the eyes are not a huge problem for me, there are days when I do have them. I also have a couple of friends who complain about dark circles and eye puffiness a lot, so I decided to see what I could find out about the problem.

My research first told me that there can be different causes for dark circles under the eyes, which makes sense. It can be hereditary, so if your mother had the dark circles, you’re more likely to have them too. As we get older, the skin under our eyes gets thinner, which can also make it look darker in comparison to the rest of the face. Apparently too much salt can also contribute and — no surprise here — smoking adds to the problem.

Anyway, I was interested in taking away the dark circles, so I’ve been looking into some remedies and testing them out with some friends. Here’s what we found.

A couple of “no cost” remedies are cold used teabags (black tea, not herbal) and cucumber slices. You simply lie back and place them on your closed eyelids and relax for at least fifteen minute — more is better. Now I don’t know why these work, because in fact you are not even placing them on the dark circles but on your eyelids. But for whatever reason, we found they did help. It’s not a permanent solution, but if your problem (like mine) is only occasional you might try this before you spend money on creams or potions.

The antioxidants in grape seed extract and pycnogenol can help to strengthen blood vessels, which can also reduce dark circles under the eyes. You can find supplements, but these substances are also found naturally in cranberries, blueberries, bilberries, black and green tea, black currants, onions, some legumes, and parsley. One word of caution, especially if you go the supplement route: if you are on any kind of blood thinning drugs or remedies, check with your doctor before you try these substances as you don’t want to reduce the effectiveness of your medication.

There was a lot of excitement for a while about the ability of the hemorrhoid treatment Preparation H to reduce undereye puffiness. However, if you live in the U.S. this will no longer work (if it ever did), because the ingredient that was supposed to help is no longer included. Anyway, call me fussy but I don’t fancy using hemorrhoid cream on my face!

Finally, one friend who has particularly noticeable dark circles and puffiness under her eyes is trying out a new regime to beat the problem. She is quite interested in the early results, but I’ll let her try it for a couple of weeks longer before I decide what I think. Stay tuned for an update!