Causes for Eye Bags and Undereye Puffiness
1) Seasonal allergies, a cold, a sinus infection - These are some of the things that can lead to water building up under the eye.
2) A dinner heavy with salty food or a night of crying while watching a tearjerker movie can also cause morning-after puffiness.
The reason is osmosis. Water always travels from areas in the body where there's low salt concentration to tissues where there's more salt. That principle holds true whether the salt comes from tears or from soy sauce.
Fixes for Eye Bags and Undereye Puffiness
1) Treat hay fever, if that's the problem. There are non-sedating, over-the-counter allergy medications that may help.
2) Try a neti pot. Irrigating the nasal cavity with a neti pot -- a traditional device that looks like a small teapot -- can help relieve fluid buildup caused by allergies, sinus congestion, or a cold.
3) Switch your sleep position. Your sleep position may be contributing to under-eye bags. Thanks to gravity, sleeping on your side or stomach can encourage fluids to collect under your eyes. If you're a side sleeper, you may notice a heavier bag on the side you sleep on. For those who wake up with puffy eyes, you can consider sleep on your back and add an extra pillow under the head.
4) Other everyday habits, including rubbing your eyes frequently, going to bed with makeup on, and excessive drinking, can contribute to under-eye bags, too. Heavy alcohol drinking causes dehydration. That weakens the delicate skin around the eyes, making it more likely to sink into a pouch.
Eye bags might also be a sign of an underlying medical condition. If your bags appear suddenly and you're not suffering from allergies, a sinus infection, or a cold -- and they don't ease up when you try the lifestyle steps mentioned above -- it's a good idea to see your doctor. Some thyroid or kidney problems can cause under-eye fluid retention.
Causes of Dark Circles
When dark shadows or bags linger, the cause typically is not something temporary, like a few too many cocktails. It might be something you've inherited.
Pigmentary issues that cause under-eye discoloration are common among people of Asian or African descent. Age also contributes to dark circles. With age, the skin around the eye thins, exposing the tiny blood vessels that lie just below. If you pull the skin sideways and the darkness turns blotchy, that's evidence the problem is caused by excess pigment in the area.
Most often, dark circles aren't about changes in the color of the skin at all. Instead, they're created by a loss of volume in the area around the eye. That exposes the orbital bone, creating a hollow trough that shows up as a dark circle. With the delicate eye area one of the first spots to reveal signs of aging, this can happen as early as the late 30s or 40s.
Fixes for Dark Circles
1) Makeup can help conceal dark circles. Choose a concealer that matches your skin tone. If you have mild discoloration, pick a liquid formula. If your shadows are more prominent, go for more coverage with a cream or cake concealer. Lightly pat the concealer on from the inner corner of your eye to just past the outer corner.
2) Other, more expensive options, including treatment with certain lasers such as IPL or intense pulse light, can help by destroying those pigment cells and smoothing the skin. Skin lightening creams that contain hydroquinone or kojic acid may also diminish the darkness.
These fixes are less successful when the dark circles are caused by extremely thin skin. Eye creams that contain caffeine may help a bit because they constrict the underlying blood vessels.
Prevention and Quick Fixes
1) Don't smoke, and always apply a sunscreen around the eye area. Smoking and exposure to UV rays both weaken collagen and cause premature wrinkling and sagging.
2) Apply an eye treatment product to the eye area nightly.
3) Add a prescription retinoic acid -- the vitamin A cream that goes by the generic name "tretinoin" -- to your daily skin care regimen.
4) To calm puffy eyes, place cold spoons, slices of cucumbers, chilled tea bags, or even a package of frozen peas under your eyes. The cool temperatures -- rather than any special properties of cucumbers or peas -- reduce swelling.
Source : WebMD
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