Dark circles around the eyes are something that affects a vast majority of people, regardless of age. For the most part, these dark undereye circles are caused by lifestyle, such as a lack of sleep; but in a lot of cases they can also be more permanent and caused by hyperpigmentation in the skin. The dark circles are completely harmless, but they can affect a person’s self-confidence and not leave them feeling great about their appearance. Let’s have a look at some of the ways you can tackle your dark circles; from topical skincare, to invasive cosmetic treatments.

Topical Skincare

Most people’s dark circles can be improved or eradicated with simple topical skincare products and treatments. Many dark circles aren’t caused by hyperpigmentation, but are merely shadows cast by puffy eye bags from lack of sleep or are hollows under your eyes from the natural ageing process. These types of dark circes can be fixed pretty easily. Diminish eye bags with some massage and tapping under the eye area to dispel fluid build-up, or use a skincare device like the Foreo Iris to do this ‘tapping’ for you. It’s a pulsating device that you use around and under your eyes to de-puff, and it’s amazing. You can also get rid of swollen eye bags with cryotherapy, whether that’s using an ice roller or simply just by rubbing ice cubes on the particularly dark parts or swollen parts. Do these things and GET SOME MORE SLEEP and you might just be able to diminish those dark circles caused by lifestyle.

Read my review of the Institut Esthederm Eye Contour Lift Patches.

The under eye area also needs a lot of hydration, especially if you have hollows from ageing. Make sure you are flooding the area with Hyaluronic Acid serums and eye creams. Under-eye mask patches are great for dark circles too. Other ingredients you want to have in an eye cream are Vitamin C and Caffiene as they will directly target these and brighten and awaken the skin under the eyes. Two eye creams I love are the Murad Vita-C Eyes Dark Circle Corrector and the Saturday Skin Yuzu Vitamin C Bright Eye Cream.

Cosmetic Treatments

This might not be an option that you have previously thought about, but it is worth mentioning in this post, if the methods above just aren’t working for you and you think your dark circles are caused by stubborn hyperpigmentation that ingredients such as Vitamin C just aren’t fading. Cosmetic treatments are available as a treatment for persistent dark circles. Tear trough fillers, for example, are one such way to treat dark undereye circles, and are an effective means of doing so. Although, it must be said that any there is a risk with any fillers around the eye area, so make sure you choose your clinic carefully and are fully aware of the risks. These work by injecting a filler and hyaluronic acid into the under-eye area.

Fake It ‘Til You Make It

You can also choose to just disguise your dark circles rather than ‘treat’ them. The way to do this is via a colour correcting under eye concealer and then a brightening concealer over this. Using colour correcting products on the area before applying a nude concealer will go a long way as you will be neutralising the dark circles and then concealing them to blend into your skintone.

I hope this post has given you a basic understanding of what you can do to treat the dark circles you are experiencing, and that you have some good topical options to try out first and foremost.

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