The Best Eye Cream For Reducing Puffiness Also Works For Dark Circles Under Your Eyes

The best eye cream for reducing puffiness is also highly effective for reducing dark circles under your eyes.

These issues have different causes. However, the best eye cream or serum will contain ingredients to alleviate both concerns. Be careful when you look for the treatment you need for the skin under your eyes. This is a highly sensitive area, and many products contain nothing with a clinical record for under eye puffiness.

Here is a guide to the information you need for both reducing puffiness and reducing dark circles under the eyes.

The causes of puffiness

Puffiness under the eyes is caused by poor circulation and a loss of strength and elasticity in the skin. The skin under the eyes is often the first place we notice signs of skin aging -- just because it's delicate here. Often all it takes to make this area puffy is a lack of sleep. You can also create puffiness by rubbing your eyes -- because of allergies or just because your eyes are tired and you're not giving yourself rest breaks.

If the puffiness is caused by crying, it will usually go away in an hour or two, and no treatment is needed. (For an immediate cover-up, of course the solution is makeup.)

Puffiness and bags under the eyes usually mean the same thing. For some people, however, the issue is not puffiness, but dark circles under the eyes. As it happens, the best eye cream I know has effective ingredients for both issues.

Why the dark circles?

The most common cause of dark circles under the eyes is leaky blood vessels under the skin. Since the skin is thin right under the eyes (about a quarter of the thickness in most areas) any red or blue area under the skin shows up here. The capillaries are leaking tiny amounts of fluid. The fluid contains hemoglobin, the part of the blood that carries oxygen. When saturated with oxygen, hemoglobin is red; when it leaks out of the capillary, it loses its oxygen and turns blue.

As it builds up over time, you get the dark discoloration. It can be shades or red or blue, but the most common is a dark purple, often nearly black.

The answers to the problem

Eyeliss is the ingredient with the strongest clinical record of reducing puffiness under the eyes.

Eyeliss works by improving drainage of the lymph that puffs up this area of skin; by reducing irritation; and by increasing skin firmness and elasticity. It sharply reduced bags under the eyes of 65 percent of the volunteers in a four-week trial.

Haloxyl is another ingredient that complements Eyeless. In a different clinical trial, Haloxyl reduced dark circles under the eyes by more than 60 percent. It improves circulation in the area and removes accumulated hemoglobin, the cause of the dark coloring.

These two are key ingredients in the best cream I know of.

A less common problem

Uneven skin coloring is a common problem, but it is probably the least common cause of dark circles under the eyes. (The uneven distribution of melanin, the natural pigment that gives skin its color and tone, is the cause of age spots and freckles, for example.)

If you believe this is an issue for you, there is a different product that naturally whitens skin anywhere, and actually nourishes skin at the same time. (For many years the most common skin whiteners have all been irritants to the skin.)

Called Extrapone Nutgrass root, it works by blocking the production of melanin by more than 40 percent. It can be used along with an eye cream, if you wish.

See my website for details on the best eye cream for reducing puffiness, lightening dark circles, and more information.