What causes eye bags?

Eye bags can be the result of a wide-range of causes, from genetics to dehydration and more.

Retention of water is one of the reasons why one can get eye bags, as happens when one consumes a high salt diet. Allergies can cause puffy eyes, as some medical conditions like thyroid disorders.

But the biggest and main reason for eye bags is the aging process. During aging, the tissues and muscles around the eye become weaker and thinner. This leads to more skin sagging under the eye, and the fat that surrounds the eye to bulge out more, contributing to eye bags.

How to get rid of eye bags?

Luckily, there are many ways to reduce or even remove eye bags.

For the biggest improvement, start with these three tips. For more ideas, keep reading!

Top 3 Tips to Improve Eye Bags

Improve your sleep quality and make sure you sleep enough. Find more than 50 tips here to improve your sleep.

Eye Bags can be a sign of iron deficiency. This is one the most common deficiencies, which occurs most often in women. Learn more about other common deficiencies here.

Take supplements that improve aging and skin health, like NOVOS Core.

More things you can do to reduce eye bags

Reduce salt in your diet.
Increase potassium in your diet to counterbalance your salt intake. Fruits and vegetables are great sources of potassium.

Eat a healthy diet with lots of vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, healthy oils, white meat and fish. Learn more about the best longevity diet here.

Don’t smoke.

Drink very little alcohol. This means maximum one glass per day, including alcohol-free days.

Hydrate enough: drink at least 1.5 liters (8 glasses of fluid) per day.

Drink green tea: this tea contains substances like EGCG which is very healthy for the skin and blood vessels.

Apply green tea bags under your eyes. Steep 2 tea bags for 3 to 5 minutes in non-hot water, let them then chill in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes. Then squeeze out the extra liquid and put them on your eyebags for about 15 to 30 minutes.

Apply a cold compress on your eye bags. Make sure it’s not freezing, which can cause cold burns. You can also use a cool cucumber or even a cooled metal teaspoon.

Cover it up: there are currently cosmetics on the market that can cover up eyebags by changing the skin color and/or that form a hardened gel that tightens up the skin. Probably your pharmacist can advise you on camouflaging eye bag creams.

Use makeup focused on eye bags such as under-eye correctors or concealers.

Make sure you are not suffering from liver or kidney disorders. These can sometimes cause or exacerbate eyebags.

Check for allergies, these can also cause eye bags. The same goes for food allergies: these cause inflammation in the body, which can contribute to eye bags.

A tretinoin (retinoic acid) cream can not only reduce wrinkles, but also eye bags. These creams are prescription-based.

Apply a high-concentration vitamin C skin cream.

Use a skin cream with caffeine to activate the skin and blood vessels under the eye.

Do facial under-eyelid massage, which also drains the lymph nodes. You can use the refrigerated spoons for this, e.g. applying a cold spoon under the eye for 30 seconds a few times.

Make sure to remove make-up before you go to bed, given too much make-up for too long can cause irritation.

Consider eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty): when you get older, your eyelids will sag anyhow. Eyelid surgery can partially fix this.

Laser resurfacing can improve the skin firmness under the eyes.

Microneedling uses fine needles to punch holes in the skin. The little wounds will heal and create extra collagen in the process, which can make the skin under the eyes more firm.