The skin under the eyes is the same as skin in other parts of our face but thinner and more sensitive because it contains tiny blood vessels running through. Thus when formulating eye creams, we need less concentrated products. Their ingredients are similar to facial lotion with less concentration but eye creams always charge more. Usually, brands claim that eye cream will help you get rid of the dark circle and puffy bags under your eyes. However, the dark circle and puffiness come from genes, age, blood build-up, and hyperpigmentation.
Now let talk about eye cream’s common ingredients.
Besides main ingredients water, glycerin as a humectant, there are some active ingredients that consumers can look for such as hyaluronic acid (moisture-retaining), vitamin C (target dark circle), niacinamide (target hyperpigmentation), ceramides (to hydrate), or some peptides (increase collagen and elastin production). Some eye cream contains retinol at low concentration (target wrinkles) which can be harsh under eyes area. Retinol-containing eye cream is recommended to be used at night because it can make skin more UV sensitive during the day.
As I mentioned in the previous post about skin penetration, the hydrophilic ingredients can’t penetrate the skin layers easily without the help of some enhancers. However, you don’t want such aggressive ingredients (enhancers) under the eyes which are very sensitive. Also, some ingredients like hyaluronic acid molecules are too large to significantly penetrate the skin, thus they stay on the top of the skin layer and do their hydrating job.
So these ingredients actually can not do anything to repair the aging-related facial fat loss, and aging-related facial structural shadowing (under eyes area), which can be treated with in-clinic treatment.
There are good things you can do about them is stop drinking and smoking, have sufficient sleep, and use sunscreen and hydrating products to prevent them from getting worse.
To sum up, often times, a combination of in-clinic treatment, lifestyle changes, and good skincare will bring the best results in tackling the dark under-eyes circle problems.
Resource: 15minutebeauty, ReviewThis, Chemistscorner.
