Everyone grows old because aging is part of the cycle of life. But while you may understand aging on an intellectual level, you might find it harder to accept the effects of the passage of time on your physical appearance. How did you react when you saw your first gray hair and noticed the beginnings of a wrinkle? While you might not want to admit it, your changing looks are a big deal.
The signs of aging often appear first around your eyes and lips in the form of dark circles, eye bags, lines, and wrinkles. This is because the delicate skin around your eyes is more sensitive and thinner than the skin covering the rest of your body. In fact, the skin in your eye area is between seven to 10 times thinner than the skin on the rest of your face. The skin under your eyes only gets thinner as the years go by because you lose collagen and fat, and the muscles and tissues around your eyelids weaken.
What Causes Dark Circles, Lines, and Puffiness?
Underneath the skin under your eyes is a dense blood vessel network. A bluish tint is produced when blood flows through the veins close to the surface of the skin under your eyes. If having naturally thin skin runs in your family, chances are dark circles under your eyes will soon become more evident.
The skin around your eyes has less sebaceous glands compared to the skin on the other areas of your face, making it more prone to the formation of lines due to the poor lipid barrier. On the other hand, allergies, fatigue, sinus infections, thyroid dysfunction, and other conditions contribute to eye puffiness. Certain bad lifestyle habits also make the signs of aging around your eyes more obvious.
How to Take Care of the Skin Around Your Eyes
While there is no turning back the hands of Father Time, you can make the necessary lifestyle changes and take certain steps to minimize the signs of aging around your eyes, including:
- Avoiding too much sun exposure. You need safe sun exposure to produce vitamin D but spending too much time outdoors, especially in the scorching heat, can hasten the aging process. Wear sunglasses to protect the skin around your eyes. Better yet, stay out of the sun when you don’t need to go out.
- Drink more water. Drink at least eight glasses of water daily to hydrate your skin. The more water you drink, the less water your body will hold. Reduce your coffee and soda intake because caffeine is a diuretic.
- Eat more dark green leafy vegetables. Dark green leafy vegetables as well as other veggies and fruits that have rich colors contain antioxidants that help fight free radicals, which are associated with premature aging. Avoid salty, processed foods because they make your body hold more water.
- Get some beauty sleep. Sleeping eight hours a day will help refresh your face and reduce eye puffiness in the morning. Do not sleep on your stomach or sideways to lessen the pull of gravity on your face, which increases fluid retention under your eyes.
- Quit smoking and drink alcohol moderately. Smoking and inhaling second hand smoke robs your skin of collagen, elastin, and vitamin C (a skin-friendly nutrient).
- Use natural treatments. Acerola, alfalfa, aloe vera gel, buttermilk, cucumber slices, green tea bags, papayas, and potato slices are among the natural substances that can help improve the appearance of the skin around your eyes.
- Use a high-quality eye cream that is formulated with compounds and nutrients that help reduce dark circles, lines, and under eye bags.