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Dark circles under eyes and lines around mouths are often signs of stress, and they can age a person’s face by decades. Nothing says “I haven’t had any sleep last night and I’m having a bad week, so stay the **** out of my way!” like undereye circles and a mean look.
But stress and fatigue aren’t the only causes of undereye darkness.
There are a lot of different reasons why people get dark circles under their eyes.
If you’re one of those people who still have eye bags or what some might call “raccoon attacks” even after a relatively relaxing work week and lots of good sleep for example, your undereye circles problem might actually be hereditary.
For almost everybody, the skin is thinnest on and around the eyelids. This skin is called periorbital skin, and for some people the skin is so thin, it’s almost translucent. This means that blood passing through the veins near the surface of the skin in this area will usually give it a slightly darker -even bluish- tint.
Eye-rubbing, a habit that a person can develop especially if they have asthma, allergies, or any kind of condition that might make their eyes itch, can also create undereye circles. When you rub or scratch the skin around your eyes, more blood rushes to that area, and because the skin there is so thin, it can look pretty obvious.
If you have hay fever for example, you might get undereye darkness that comes and goes with the hay fever season. So if you want to look fresh, even through the allergy season, keep your antihistamines handy, and keep your hands off your eyes!
Certain medications that make blood vessels dilate and increase the flow of blood under the skin can make undereye darkness quite evident, especially if you’re one of those people who have naturally pale skin.
Other medical conditions, like anemia, can also cause dark circles under eyes. Iron deficiency, a very common kind of anemia, can make skin look much paler. This often makes the veins and discolored skin under a person’s eyes stand out even more.
Aside from being an indicator for a possible iron deficiency, dark circles under a person’s eyes can be a sign of other kinds of medical problems, like vitamin B6 deficiency, dehydration, bad circulation, or simply age.
Still, even though this is a fairly common problem that a lot of people have to deal with permanently, not everybody has to worry about undereye darkness all the time. Some get them only when they’re really tired.
Fatigue can make a person’s skin grow pale, which makes the blood under the thin skin of the area around the eyes really visible.
Whatever the cause of discoloration under a person’s eyes though, unless you’re trying to go for a very specific kind of look, it’s not really something desirable to have.
I had a long night last night, and I have to deal with unsightly undereye darkness right now. After coming home late from work last night, I got call from one of my friends asking if I could meet up with her for a few drinks and a little commiseration. She had broken up with her boyfriend, and she wanted someone to talk to.
As a friend, I knew that I couldn’t refuse, even after a having worked overtime that night. Five hours and half a bottle of tequila later, I finally staggered into bed. Two hours later, I oozed out of bed so that I could drag myself back to work. When I looked at myself in the mirror that morning, I was horrified by what I saw.
I looked like death warmed over. My skin was pale, my eyes were bloodshot, and I had undereye circles so dark, it looked as if I’d painted them on. I looked like I had aged at least ten years! I still had a long commute ahead of me, and if I wanted to look presentable, I knew that I had to get rid of my “raccoon attack” first, at least.
One of the best ways to get rid of dark circles under eyes in a pinch is to cover them up with makeup. Try using concealer with yellow or warm peach tones. Usually, the undereye circles are blue, purple or brownish in color, and using a warm-colored concealer will cancel out those colors, regardless of your skin tone. For a more seamless effect that will also ensure that your concealer won’t rub off or fade too quickly, lightly dust the area with translucent powder.
If you have a little more time to get rid of your undereye darkness though, you can try and soothe the skin and reduce the discoloration by regularly placing slices of cucumber or damp, refrigerated tea …