What causes dark circles under your eyes?

What causes dark circles under your eyes?

I was watching an Instagram live video the other day from Kelly Hoppen, an Interior Designer who is an icon of mine, who was talking about her dark circles under her eyes and I wanted to share my thoughts with you all about these ‘facial concerns.’ Dark circles under the eyes are seen in men and women and can often be accompanied by bags unfortunately and make you appear older. Now we don’t want that right?!

Who gets them? The people who suffer the most are the elderly, or you may have a genetic predisposition and also people with darker skin tones who are more prone to hyperpigmentation due to their skin colour.

Fatigue. Staying up past your normal bedtime can cause dark circles. Sleep deprivation can make your skin become dull and pale which enables dark tissues and blood vessels beneath your skin to show through. Lack of sleep also causes a fluid build up underneath your eyes making them appear puffy and this puffiness causes a shadow making dark circles! So check out your eyes…are they simply puffy?

Age. As you get older your skin becomes thinner due to the loss of fat and collagen. Simply due to skin being thinner, the dark blood vessels beneath your skin become more visible causing the are underneath the eyes to darken.

Dehydration. Here we go again with the dreaded dehydration …Dehydration is a common cause of dark circles under your eyes. If your body is not receiving enough water the skin beneath your eyes look dull and can look sunken. This is due to the closeness of the underlying orbital bone.

Eye Strain. I remember my mum talking about this when I was younger and I’m sure most mums are talking about this subject more than ever. Eye strain happens when you stare at your television, laptop or iPad! This straining of the eyes can cause blood vessels around your eyes to enlarge and as a result …the surrounding skin can darken.

Allergies. If you suffer from hay fever (like I do) your symptoms can include itchiness, redness and puffy eyes. However the histamines which your body naturally releases – can cause the blood vessels to dilate therefore visible beneath your skin. And if you are like me, you really want to rub and scratch the itchy skin around your eyes and DON’T DO IT as this will cause inflammation, swelling and broken capillaries all resulting in dark shadows!

Genetics. Has your mum or dad got dark circles and if so, you can inherit them.

UV rays. To protect itself against the sun, your skin produces melanin which is the pigment that gives your skin colour. However too much sun and the skin produces too much melanin and particularly if you don’t wear sunglasses or sunscreen, this is going to cause pigmentation under the eyes.

Joan’s Tips: Sunscreen, sunglasses, sleep, drink water and JL Eyelift Cream!

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