“Those big dark circles under my eyes.” Dark circles under the eyes can make you look older than you really are, and those who have them are often told by well-meaning meddlers, “You look tired.”
Many people are troubled by the appearance of periorbital dark circles—or as you probably think of them,
If we suffer from dark under-eye circles, others may assume from our appearance that we are recovering from a drinking binge the night before. It is not even unheard of for the parents of children with dark circles under their eyes to find themselves suspected of negligence. (“Why does your child look like that? Isn’t he getting enough sleep?”)
While there is some truth to the perception that dark circles under the eyes can be caused by a drinking binge and/or lack of sleep—fatigue can cause the skin to lose its luster, and alcohol dehydrates you—there is more to it than that. In this article we will discuss other possible reasons why you may have dark circles under your eyes, and what you may be able to do about them.
What Is Causing the Dark Circles under My Eyes
Periorbital dark circles have a great variety of different causes, and despite what most people seem to think, fatigue isn’t the only one. While alcohol and lack of sleep can both contribute to dark circles under your eyes, there are also a number of illnesses that can have this effect, and some people are just genetically predisposed to look that way from childhood. The combination of a fair complexion and thin skin is often the culprit.
Some of the more common causes of dark circles under the eyes include:
- Heredity. Dark circles under the eyes can appear in childhood, and are often an inherited trait. Some children will outgrow them, but others will not.
- Allergies. Nasal congestion can dilate the blood vessels that drain from the area around your eyes, causing them to darken.
- Sleep deprivationis the most common cause, and the easiest to prevent, but …
- Oversleepingcan also cause dark eye circles.
- As we get older, our skin becomes thinner.
- Iron deficiency can prevent the blood from carrying sufficient oxygen to eye tissues.
- Minor trauma that causes the appearance of a black eye
- Lifestyle. Excessive smoking or drinking can contribute to under-eye circles. Also, people who drink too much coffee or who use cocaine or amphetamines may have difficulty getting enough sleep.
- Fluid retention, as may occur with pregnancy or weight gain.
- Skin pigmentation abnormalities. The skin around the eyes is thinner, which is why your blood vessels are more readily visible through it. For this reason, irregular distribution of the melanin that gives the skin its color can cause dark circles to appear beneath the eyes. This is frequently a problem for people of Asian or African descent.
- Excessive exposure to the sun. Sun exposure encourages your body to produce more melanin.
- Age. As we get older, we lose some of the fat and collagen surrounding our eyes. This loss, combined with the thinning of our skin, magnifies the appearance of dark eye circles.
- Mononucleosis can cause the eyes to appear puffy and swollen. This is due partly to the fatigue that people feel when they are suffering from mononucleosis, and partly because this illness causes a yellowing of the eyes and the skin around them (this is called jaundice).
- Periorbital cellutitis. Periorbital cellulitis is a bacterial infection of the eyelid or eyelids. If it is promptly treated with antibiotics, however, it is nothing to worry about.
- Excess salt in the diet causes fluid retention throughout your body—including underneath your eyes.
Inorder to cure your Dark Circles you need to eat healthy, stay hydrated and have ample amount of sleep let’s have a look to the healthy diet:
- Meat and Fish Sources-Beef, lamb, pork, poultry, prawns, salmon, tuna, chicken, haddock, turkey, mussels, oysters, clams, cuttlefish, perch, sardines, veal and ham are excellent meat sources of iron. Eggs are also a good breakfast choice for individuals prone to iron deficiency.
- Plant Sources-The best plant sources for iron include beet, potatoes, broccoli, spinach, green peppers, peas, turnip greens, kale, parsley, dried coconut, olives, lentil sprouts, swiss chard.
- Nuts-Dried fruits and nuts like squash and pumpkin seeds, cashew nuts, peanuts, pine nuts, hazelnuts, almonds, macadamia nuts, apricots and raisins are excellent natural sources of iron.
- Grains and Others-Beans like white beans, kidney beans, black beans, soybeans, lima beans, black eyed peas and chickpeas are good sources of iron. Others include barley, rice, buckwheat, millet, oatmeal and quinoa. Dates and jaggery too are amazing natural sources of iron.Home Remedies for Curing Dark Circles-
- Cucumber slices are used to cure the dark circles under your eyes for ages. Putting a cucumber slice on your eyes can be helpful for alleviation of dark circles from your eyes.
- Cucumber juice and lemon juice mixed in equal quantities can be good home remedy for treatment of dark circles. Apply the mixture on face daily and wash with cold water after 20 minutes.
- You can also use thick potato slice to remove dark circles under your eye. Take a chilled potato and cut it in slices and put those slices on your eyes. This would be helpful in removal of dark circles under your eyes.
- Rose water can be a good home base remedy. Soak a cotton ball with rosewater and wash the skin under your eyes with it. Doing this for at least 10 days regularly would be good in reduction of dark circles under your eyes. Rose water has soothing effect on eyes and also rejuvenate the skin underneath the eyes
- Lemon juice can also be a good home remedy for dark circles of eyes with bleaching properties of vitamin C. Take lemon juice in a cotton ball and apply it on the surrounding area of your eyes.
- Putting tea bags on your eyes would be a good solution for removal of dark circles under your eyes. Cool tea bags can work work a nice bleaching agent to remove the darker circles under your eyes.
- Mint leaves are great remedy for dark circles around your eyes. Make a fine paste of mint leaves and apply it on your eyes and keep it there intact for 30 to 40 minutes. When it get little bit drier wash it off with cold water. Doing this process repeatedly for 14 to 15 days would be very helpful. Mint is a great herb with nice bleaching properties.
- Turmeric is one home remedy that is helpful in almost every problem and it can work wonders for removal of dark circles also.Take 4 to 5 tablespoon of turmeric powder and mix it with pineapple juice and apply it on your face. Make a fine paste of this mixture and apply it on your face. Put the paste on your face for 15 to 20 minute and rinse it with cold water.