What Causes Puffiness or Bags Under the Eyes?
With age, you will notice a change in your eyes. The tissues around the eye tend to sag. This is because of loss of skin tone. The fat shifts forward into the lower eyelids, and gives the appearance of bags under the eyes. Fluid retention in the eyelids makes them look puffy or swollen.
Moreover, loss of collagen can make the delicate under eye skin thinner. This makes the blood vessels more prominent, and you see them as the fine, red spidery lines.
In addition, the following factors can aggravate the puffiness under the eyes:
◦ Inadequate sleep
◦ Smoking (which accelerates collagen loss)
◦ Seasonal Allergies
◦ Fluid retention (called edema)
◦ Familial predilection
How can you reduce the puffiness of eyes?
Some home remedies may help reduce the under-eye bags and puffiness.
- Cold compress: Use a cool compress on your eyes. Dip a clean piece of cotton in cool, drinking water, and apply a gentle pressure around the under eye area, for a few minutes. Make sure you do this while sitting upright.
- Get adequate sleep: Make sure you get at least eight hours of sleep daily.
- Use a pillow that raises your head slightly. This can help prevent the fluid retention and reduce the puffiness around your eyes.
- Limit your salt intake. Avoid fluids before bedtime. This will also decrease the early morning puffiness.
- Stop smoking. Smoking is injurious to health, and damages more than just the eyes.
- Manage your allergy. Your doctor may want to give you eyedrops to manage your allergies if they are restricted to your eyes. In case of generalised symptoms, she may recommend an oral anti allergy also.
- If all else fails, you can camouflage the shadows and spider lines under your eyes. A concealer usually works.
What can your skin doctor do?
Your skin doctor or dermatologist may advise laser resurfacing, chemical peels and fillers.
These treatments are may help by improving skin tone and the pigmentation around the under eye area.
What about eye surgery of the bags under the eyes?
Blepharoplasty literally means reshaping the eye lids. This surgery may be helpful in improving the appearance of the under eye area. During this surgery, your doctor will make a small incision to remove the excess fat and skin folds. This makes the under eye skin taut, removing the bags under the eyes.
What about dark circles?
Due to the loss of fat and collagen under the eyes, the skin becomes thin. This makes the blue-ish blood vessels more prominent, giving the under eye area a darker hue than the rest of the face. And when you haven’t slept well, it is especially exaggerated .
Sometimes, the under eye discolouration may run in families. This is called hereditary periorbital hyperpigmentation).
Hay fever and allergies, on the other hand, can further aggravate the under-eye dark circles as well.
