by Lisbeth Endre

While your skin is doing the whole growing old gracefully thing, the under-eye area slowly darkens from a natural loss of fat stores. Eventually that leads to hollowness and a shadowy effect. Now if you are in your twenties or thirties, dark circles an be attributed to others things such as genetics, allergies, or yo-yo dieting.

If genetics isn’t the issue, allergies may be the culprit. If you have them, refrain from rubbing itchy eyes.  Skin builds up pigment in response to the rubbing.  The best way to treat and minimize dark circles caused by allergies is with cold compresses, antihistamines and allergen reducing pillow covers.

If neither of those scenarios sound like you, check your eating habits. Dark circles could be caused by dramatic weight shifts from dieting.  Rapid weight gain or loss can have a bad impact on your skin overall, leading to a decrease in elasticity that ages you noticeably.  Bottom line is keep weight loss to a sane pace of one to two pounds a week.

The second thing that can make us look older is puffy eyes. You might not experience these till your forties, but in these times women are getting them earlier, and they most definitely make you look older than you really are.

Spending more time in bed could help.  Chronic fatigue leads to overproduction of stress hormones, which creates an inflammatory response in your skin. If you sleep on your stomach or your side, fluid can accumulate under the skin around the eyes.  The best way to sleep is on your back with your head elevated on an extra pillow.  A fix for morning emergencies is to stick a wet washcloth in the freezer for 15 minutes, then use it as a cool compress.  You can also use an eye treatment such as Garnier Ultra-Lift eye roller.

If you are doing everything right and you still look puffy, it’s most likely allergies.  Here again, try an over the counter antihistamine like Claritin or Zrytec.  A simple fix of buying an impenetrable filler like a latex cover or 1-micron filter case, for your pillow.  Most allergies are caused by dust mites, or worse dust mite poop.  After two years, your pillow is 80% dust mite poop.  Another less gross possibility, is sensitivity to your eye cream or make up.

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