It has been said that your eyes are a window to your soul. But is your soul looking tired, baggy and puffy? We may feel young inside, but our eyes may be telling a different story.
Many people complain of tired-looking eyes. They rub all kinds of creams and hope for the best. The answer is much more comprehensive. Excess skin around the eyes may be hereditary or just due to bad habits. How many times have you rubbed your eyes after a long day? The fact is that the skin around our eyes is extremely delicate. It does not bounce back after being pulled and stretched like the rest of our skin. This is because the skin under the eyes has fatty tissue underneath, not collagen and elastin fibers that help the skin bounce back. For this same reason, we cannot treat this area with the same creams and lotions we use on the rest of our face.
Common problems reported around the eyes are excess skin, dark circles, puffiness and wrinkles. Excess skin can be prevented by placing creams on the orbital bone around the eye and never pulling on the skin just below the eye. If it’s too late for that, then only two treatments are effective. First, surgery (blepharoplasty) is extremely effective in removing excess skin. Laser resurfacing is the other treatment used commonly to treat this problem. Visit a plastic surgeon or dermatologist that performs these procedures frequently to determine which is the best for you.
If your chief concern is dark circles, try a lifestyle change. Dark circles around the eyes may also be hereditary but are commonly caused by lack of sleep and dehydration. Dark circles form when blood leaks from capillaries and pools around the eyes. Lack of sleep and dehydration weakens the capillary walls and cause this leakage to occur. Vitamin K can be used topically to strengthen capillary walls. However, nothing beats a good night sleep and a well-hydrated individual.
Puffiness around the eyes can definitely be treated with creams and lotions. Soothing and cooling ingredients are very common in eye creams to help treat puffiness. Otherwise, try placing two wet tea bags over your eyes for 5 – 10 minutes. Green and black teas have astringents that pull skin taut around the eyes.
Wrinkles, on the other hand, are due to a breakdown of collagen and elastin fibers around the lateral borders of the eyes. The loss of elasticity in combination with the contraction of the muscles around the eye will cause the infamous “crow’s feet.” To prevent these, use eye creams twice daily that contain powerful antioxidants that help combat the breakdown of collagen caused for the sun’s UV rays. Also, be sure to use a sunscreen with UVA and UVB protection daily. Wearing sunglasses outdoors will also prevent you from squinting and help shield you from the sun.
To treat wrinkles, try Botox. This is the gold standard of wrinkle reduction around the eyes. Botox works by relaxing the muscle and therefore preventing the overlying skin from folding or wrinkling. Treatments usually last three to four months. For best results, do treatments consecutively. Keeping those crow’s feet from popping up for an extended period of time (1 year= 3 to 4 treatments) will actually help almost completely eliminate most wrinkles when the muscles are not contracting.
To maintain those youthful eyes, start preventative treatment early. Maintain a skin care regimen twice daily that includes an eye cream formulated to treat the problems you suffer from most. Try Nu|2’s Eyelighten Cream specially formulated to treat dark circles, puffiness, and wrinkles. Additionally, make sure to stay well hydrated and get a good night sleep. If all else fails, try Botox, laser resurfacing or surgery. It’s not too late to make the window to your soul reflect the real you.