Dark lines or circles might develop beneath your eyes due to excessive sleep, acute exhaustion, or simply staying up later than usual. Your skin may appear dull and pallid from lack of sleep. Under your skin, the black tissues and blood vessels may begin to appear. Being weary and tired are the usual causes of dark circles beneath the eyes. The shadows cast by swollen eyelids or hollows under your eyes that give the appearance of dark circles may be simply a natural component of aging.
Typically, under-eye coils don’t require medical attention. Numerous factors might contribute to dark under-eye circles, a frequent issue for many people. What you need to know about the causes of dark circles and how to treat them is provided here. Nevertheless, depending on what’s causing them, dark circles can typically be addressed. Here are four reasons you could have dark circles beneath your eyes, along with solutions for reducing their visibility.
Sleep Deprivation as a Cause of Dark Lines
In a nutshell, chronic sleep loss or poor sleep quality are the main causes of sleep deprivation. Regularly getting less than 7 hours of sleep can eventually cause health problems that impact your entire body. Your under-eye skin is distinct from the rest. The blood vessels are closer to the surface of this skin because it is thinner.
Your blood vessels expand at night when you don’t receive enough restorative sleep. This increases blood flow, and the dark hue brought on by the increased blood volume is more apparent due to the thinness. In other words, lack of sleep results in dark lines under your eyes.
It may also result in eye bags that seem puffy and bloated under the eyes. Fluids can leak into the skin and cause this. Research shows that lack of sleep has other cosmetic repercussions besides puffy eyes and dark under-eye circles. Reddened eyes, pale complexion, and hanging eyelids, also known as “sleepy eyes.”
Anemia and a Lack of Iron as a Cause of Dark Lines
Red blood cells are insufficiently produced in anemia, a medical disorder. A diet low in iron typically brings it on. Anemia prevents blood cells from delivering adequate oxygen to the body’s tissues, particularly those under the eyes. Green claims that this may lead to dark under-eye circles.
In a 2014 study published in the Indian Journal of Dermatology, it was discovered that 200 patients with black circles had iron deficiency anemia in nearly half of them. While treating anemia did not eliminate the study participants’ dark under-eye circles, several of them did perceive an improvement.
Due to insufficient oxygen delivery to the body’s tissues, anemia or an iron shortage can cause dark lines under the eyes. Another potential cause is liver issues. Darkening under-eye circles can also be a side effect of any medicine that causes blood vessels to dilate. When there is not enough iron, hemoglobin, the protein on red blood cells that carries oxygen, degrades.
Your under-eye skin seems bruised or develops those dark circles due to the hemoglobin breakdown. Not to worry, boosting ferritin to ideal levels will help you treat low iron levels. This will halt hemoglobin oxidation and those bothersome dark circles.
Using Tobacco and Drinking Booze
Smoking and drinking can make dark circles worse by drying the skin. Alcohol consumption can widen blood vessels behind the eyes, highlighting dark circles. Alcohol can also make it difficult to sleep, which makes the appearance of dark lines worse. According to Green, smoking’s carbon monoxide deprives your skin of oxygen. Making it darker where the skin is thin, like beneath your eyes.
Smoking accelerates skin aging by destroying collagen. Smoking “damages the skin and causes accelerated aging,” according to Green. Dark circles under the eyes might result from decreased collagen production, similar to age-related dark circles. Alcohol may help you feel sleepy and fall asleep more quickly, but it doesn’t guarantee that you will stay asleep.
You might feel restless all night because it disrupts your regular sleep patterns. Dark circles under your eyes are frequently a result of it. The presence of bloodshot eyes is one physical sign of heavy drinking. Alcohol usage causes the small blood vessels in the eye to enlarge, widening their appearance and giving the eyeball a reddish hue, which is the cause of this change in appearance.
According to a new study in the November issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, smoking can also promote premature eyelid bags, extra upper eyelid skin, and darker lower eyelid skin, which can all make you look older by increasing the amount and depth of wrinkles.
Genetics as a Cause of Dark Lines
According to O’Keefe, dark circles can have both environmental and hereditary origins. In reality, a 2015 study studied the physiological and lifestyle factors influencing the risk and severity of dark circles in the Brazilian population. It was published in the Brazilian medical journal Anais Brasileiros de Dermatologia.
The average age of beginning for participants’ dark circles was 24, and the researchers discovered that family history was the most crucial factor. Collagen levels and melanin synthesis are two elements influenced by genetics and lead to dark circles. A protein in the body called collagen helps keep skin supple and reduces the visibility of wrinkles.
Dark brown or black pigments in the skin are referred to as melanin.”Dark circles may run in families. Some of us have it, whether it’s thinner skin beneath the eyes or hyperpigmentation.” Like most skin-related problems, under-eye circles may get worse with age. Dark lines become more noticeable as skin becomes thinner and loses collagen and fat.