Why do I have dark circles under my eyes?

For a long time, beginning in my childhood, I had dark ciricles under my eyes. My mother was always convinced that it was because I didn’t eat enough vegetables. I later discovered that it was because I have allergies, so perhaps you have developed some sort of allergy to something.

As a side note, the whole “you’re not eating enough vegetables” -thing never made sense to me. There were entire tribes of American Indians who never ate any vegetables, had almost a strictly carnivorous diet, but were noted for their strong stature and beautiful skin. I also believe that it’s in contemporary Iceland or Greenland where they eat very few vegetables or fruit, but are known for their longevity.

Skin discoloration under the eyes affects just about everybody at some time or another. For some of us, however, these “dark circles” are a near-constant bother. While these conditions are occasionally symptomatic of other illnesses, the usual cause is allergies, tiredness, or, unfortunately, heredity. No matter what the cause, you can still reduce the appearance of dark circles, and in some cases, you may be able to get rid of them altogether.There is a vain under your eyes and when that vain pops, it prevents a dark circle under your eye. Don’t worry, it’s natural.

It could be genetics. It could be allergies. It could be that you are one of those who need more than 8 hours of sleep each night. It could be you are coming down with an illness. It could possibly be poor nutrition resulting in a deficiency of vitamin K, which allows your capillaries to leak out a bit more blood than usual. It could even be the result of a bad habit of rubbing your eyes and thus breaking the capillaries. A deficiency in B12 can also result in dark circles. Smoking can also cause vascular problems that lead to the circles. Problems in digesting protein can also do it.

It could also be something that simply is happening because the skin around your eyes is some of the thinnest, most delicate skin of your entire body. The capillaries are much closer to the surface of the skin there. Many people’s skin is not only thinner around the eyes, but also more translucent. When your capillaries leak (and most capillaries do a bit) the blood that is breaking down creates a dark “bruise” that shows up as those pesky circles.

According to this site, cucumber slices help to lighten the skin, but also soothe and cool the eyes, causing the capillaries to clamp down a bit to prevent heat-loss. Also, the caffeine in tea bags acts as a remedy for dark circles by diminishing puffiness. Caffeine in tea helps to diminish water in the tissues around the eyes (you’ll notice that many early eye circle creams contain caffeine for this very reason). And chamomile tea also helps because it is slightly anti-inflammatory.

This WikiHow gives various suggestions on how to minimize the circles.

You should probably take a look at your family to see if there is a heredity factor, and you might want to be checked by your doctor for anemia, or vitamin deficiencies. Even simpler is to simply add a multivitamin into your daily routine.

I constantly have dark circle due to having olive skin, but they get worse in the winter. It might be from not getting enough sun. Just a suggestion

@Darwin The thought that it could be hereditary had crossed my mind, however I looked at pictures of myself from last winter and I did not have them. If anything I would say that it’s definitely health related.

put almond oil on your dark circles….its really helpful

My friend had the dark circles under her eyes too. She was told to try eliminating wheat and gluten from her diet. It worked and got rid of the dark circles, but she decided she likes wheat and gluten more than caring about the dark circles. But try doing a wheat/gluten free diet. Apparently it’s a pretty common allergy.

You could also have some vitamins lacks

@BigFoot Yeah I’m thinking it might be an iron deficiency. :(

Try getting more sleep. I think 6 hours is not likely to be enough.