Although dark circles under your eyes are not harmful, many people try to hide at least, if not treat them. And there are numerous reasons why you should try to get rid of them as well. After all, those areas under your eyes don’t reflect the best of you. They make you look exhausted and older. Premature darkness of skin under your eyes may disrupt your overall personality. So, there is no reason why you can’t try to remove them without hurting your skin. In this article, we will try to know how to remove dark circles under the eyes permanently.
Darkness under your eyes is usually not due to an underlying medical condition. But they are one of the apparent signs of aging. Sometimes, they also reflect the puffiness of your eyes that may develop due to aging, and in some cases, diabetes as well.
If you notice the darkness of only one eye and seems to be getting worse with time, you must try to catch your doctor to find the exact cause. Otherwise, if there is darkness under both eyes without swelling or pain, you don’t need to be worried. Before finding some practical ways to remove them, let’s find out some possible causes.
What causes dark corners of eyes?
Several factors may be responsible for the dark corners of your eyes. Some common ones include:
1. Aging
Natural aging is one of the major causes of the dark corners of the eyes. Your skin becomes thinner as your age advances. Your body keeps losing the collagen and fat required to maintain the elasticity of your skin. With this, blood vessels beneath the skin start getting darker and more visible. Hence, the corners of your eyes start getting darker.
2. Fatigue and sleep deprivation
Extreme fatigue, oversleeping, or not sleeping on time can also form dark circles at the corners of your eyes. Continuous sleep deprivation may cause your skin to look pale and dull, paving the way for dark blood vessels and tissues beneath the skin to be visible.
Prolonged sleep disturbance can also cause a build-up of fluid underneath your eyes and make them appear puffy. Sometimes, dark circles are the shadows cast by puffy eyelids.
3. Allergies
Certain allergic reactions and dryness of your eyes can also be among the prominent causes of dark circles under the eyes. When you get an allergy, your body responds by releasing histamines to deal with harmful bacteria. In addition to causing uncomfortable symptoms like redness, puffiness, itching of eyes, histamines can also cause dilatation of blood vessels beneath your skin, making them more visible.
You may have an increased urge to rub or scratch your itchy skin surrounding your eyes. And rubbing or scratching can only make the matter worse, causing swelling, inflammation, and at times, breakdown of blood vessels as well. All these factors can contribute to dark shadows beneath the eyes.
4. Eye Strain
Staring at your smartphone, laptop, computer, or television can cause significant strain on your eyes. And this strain can cause an enlargement of blood vessels surrounding your eyes. As a result, the skin around your eyes may start looking dark and puffy.
5. Dehydration
Dehydration is also among the common causes of dark circles under the eyes. When your body doesn’t get enough water, the skin around your eyes starts to look dull. Even your eyes may start looking sunken. This is mainly due to the proximity of the eyes to the underlying bone.
6. Genetics
Family history can also play an essential role in developing dark circles under the eyes. In some cases, it is seen as an inherited trait, especially when developed early in childhood. If you have dark circles due to genetics, they may worsen with your age or even start disappearing slowly. Predispositions to specific medical conditions like thyroid disease also increase the risk of dark circles under the eyes.
7. Overexposure to Sun
Melanin is a pigment responsible for maintaining your skin’s color. When you are exposed to sunlight for a very long time, your body starts an overproduction of melanin. Too much sun exposure can cause excessive pigmentation and darkness of the skin surrounding the eyes.
8. What deficiency causes dark circles?
We can call deficiency of iron and anemia the obvious contributory factors to dark circles under the eyes. Anemia is a common medical condition outlined by the insufficient red blood cells in your blood. A lack of iron in your diet is usually responsible for it.
In iron-deficiency anemia, your blood cells don’t carry enough oxygen to the tissues – including the tissues under your eyes. This may result in darkness and puffiness.
According to a 2014 study printed in the Indian Journal of Dermatology, about half of the 200 people with dark circles were suffering from iron-deficiency anemia. The study suggested that treating anemia alone wasn’t enough to eradicate dark circles; many participants noticed a marked improvement when receiving special treatment for anemia.
Signs of moderate to severe anemia may include extreme fatigue, dizziness, and paleness of the skin. If you think you haveanemia, we recommend you get proper and timed medical attention. Your doctor may ask you to add enough iron to your diet or compensate with an iron supplement.
Beans, spinach, and seafood are among the best natural sources of iron and help tackle anemia.
Also Read: How to Get Rid of Pimples on Forehead?
Are dark circles under the eyes a sign of illness?
We can’t say that dark circles under the eyes alone can reflect illness. Some specific signs and symptoms may be helpful. However, if the skin under your eyes is dark without aging continuously for a few months, you are not a hundred percent fit – that’s for sure. As said earlier, you may have dark circles due to dozens of different reasons, and if you are noticing dark circles under your eyes for very long, something is wrong with your health.
Factors like a deficiency of iron, imbalance in pigmentation, pregnancy, obesity, prolonged usage of contact glasses, and several other reasons can cause dark skin under your eyes. You may have to talk to your doctor to find the exact cause.
How to get rid of dark circles naturally?
More often than not, a combination of lifestyle adjustments and some home remedies are enough to deal with dark circles. Seldom you may have to go for specific medical treatment, especially if you don’t have other significant signs of illness. Following are some natural, safe, and effective ways to remove dark eye circles.
1. Applying cold compress
If you have an increased vasculature under your eyes, you may get some relief from applying a cold compress. A cold compress can reduce the dark appearance by constricting the blood vessels surrounding your eyes. A cold compress can also be useful to reduce swelling and darkness under the eyes.
2. Reducing Sun Exposure
If you can avoid overexposure to sunlight, you will notice a drastic improvement in the appearance of your eyes and surrounding skin. Some people may notice worsening of dark circles if they remain exposed to sunlight for hours. If you have no option but to get exposed to direct sunlight, you can protect your eyes with sunscreens, moisturizers, sunglasses, and hats. Your aim should be to protect your eyes from direct exposure to UV rays.
3. Cucumber Slices and Tea Bags
Cucumber slices are a perfect natural remedy for dark circles, especially if they appear without a specific underlying condition. The coldness of cucumber may be useful for swelling and darkness, mainly due to insomnia, oversleeping, skin allergies or eczema, etc.
Different types of tea bags are also adequate to deal with dark circles. Cool them off in the refrigerator before placing them on your eyes. Refrigerated tea bags may have similar effects to cucumber slices and cold compresses. People prefer using caffeinated tea bags because caffeine is believed to be effective for constricting blood vessels and reducing dark appearance on the skin.
Caffeine can also improve the blood flow across blood vessels surrounding your eyes and give the nearby area a fresh and youthful appearance.
It is also important to inform you that cucumber and teabags’ effectiveness is based mainly on people’s experience than outcomes from research and studies.
3. Will dark circles go away with sleep?
A sound sleep of six to eight hours every night can make a lot of positive difference in your overall health. Lack of sleep or disturbed sleep can only aggravate the dark circles. When you don’t get proper sleep,you feel tired and exhausted quickly, even for a couple of nights.
Yes, you need to prevent the dark circles with a combination of lifestyle changes, including reducing your time with a computer or smartphone screen, having a balanced diet every day, involving in enough physical exercises, proper stress management, etc. A lack of sleep is not always the sole cause of dark circles under the eyes. So, if you want to know how to get rid of dark circles permanently, the answer is “a healthy lifestyle with a balance of everything, including sleep.”
Other Important Tips
5. Stay Hydrated
As we have discussed dehydration as a cause of dark circles under the eyes, staying hydrated can also play an essential role in removing the darkness and getting back that natural, refreshing glow. You should always stay hydrated even if you don’t have dark circles. Dehydration can be a single cause for a lot of different types of health-related problems. So, drink three to five liters of water every day to stay hydrated and keep your skin naturally healthy. Staying hydrated can be immensely helpful with other lifestyle adjustments if you are looking to resolve how to get rid of dark circles naturally.
For better results, you can also add a natural, chemical-free moisturizer to your daily regime. A moisturizer may help to maintain the moisture under your eyes and can make it look healthy.
6. Take a Break from Digital Screens
These days, the overuse of smartphones, computers, and other gadgets is also a common cause of darkness around the eyes. People keep using phones and laptops for long hours without any break, proving extremely harmful for both physical and mental health. Reports of problems like “computer vision syndrome” are only increasing every year. Youngsters are engaged in too much screen time playing games, watching videos, and other stuff.
Spending a lot of time in front of a screen can increase the risk of increased body weight, diabetes, and heart disease in adults. When it comes to your eyes, you may suffer from blurred vision, strained and dried eyes. Other problems may include continuous headache, chronic back, neck, and shoulder pain.
In short, the overuse of computers or smartphones can destroy your health. And believe us, dark circles under the eyes are only among the minor symptoms. So, cut down your time with your phone or laptop. If you have to spend a lot of time in front of the screen due to your work, take regular breaks. Do yourself some favor and avoid blue screen, at least when you have nothing substantial. Not only dark circles under eyes, but you will also start overcoming many other problems as well.
Final Words
Dark circles under the eyes may not necessarily reflect an illness. Still, they indeed say a lot about your health – especially if they appear without common factors like aging, pregnancy, and chronic illness. Likely, you are not following a healthy lifestyle. As there is no single cause for dark circles under the eyes, there is no specific treatment either. You may have to make any changes to your regime, mainly diet, especially if you have conditions like iron-deficiency anemia.
Hopefully, we were successful in answering your query – “how to remove dark circles under eyes permanently.” The bottom line is you should try removing dark circles naturally instead of “hiding” them with cosmetics. And a balanced lifestyle with a bit of everything, including diet, physical activities, enough sleep, and proper stress management, can help.
References:
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/how-to-remove-dark-circles-under-eyes-permanently#removal
https://www.mayoclinic.org/symptoms/dark-circles-under-eyes/basics/causes/sym-20050624?p=1#:~:text=Dark%20circles%20under%20your%20eyes%20usually%20are%20not%20a%20sign,a%20normal%20part%20of%20aging.
https://www.medicinenet.com/eye_health_watery_eyes/article.htm
https://www.healthline.com/health/dark-circle-under-eyes#causes
https://www.insider.com/what-causes-dark-circles-under-eyes#:~:text=Iron%20deficiency%20and%20anemia&text=It%20is%20usually%20due%20to,dark%20eye%20circles%2C%20Green%20says.
https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-get-rid-of-dark-circles-permanently#causes
https://www.carewellurgentcare.com/2018/07/19/the-effects-too-much-screen-time-has-on-your-health/#:~:text=Looking%20at%20a%20screen%20for,%2C%20blurred%20vision%2C%20and%20headaches.&text=Poor%20posture%20when%20using%20screens,%2C%20shoulder%2C%20and%20back%20pain.
