Dark circles under the eyes make your appearance tired, stressed and aged. Some people have dark circles due to aging and others have from their young age. Dark circles in Caucasians can be seen more frequently as they have more dark pigments. Dark circles under eyes is not caused due to stress or tiredness, actually it is develop due to staining of thin eyelid skin from pigments that leaked through blood cells. Hemoglobin is the blood cell pigment that oxidizes close to the skin surface due to exposure to light and give a bluish red colour. When exposed to light hemoglobin change to hemosiderin, an iron-based pigment. Dark circles are become permanent as pigments deposit to the skin.
Some people prefer to have lower blepharoplasty to remove the dark circles. But this is not the solution. Lower blepharoplasty removes excess skin from lower eyelid and bulging fat. It is not meant for the pigment-staining problem under lower eyelid. Blepharoplasty may cause bruising and place blood products close to the skin surface, this may even look worse. But sometimes, lower blepharoplasty may help to fade-up dark circles under eyes. Lower eyelid is tightened in the surgery and removes the hollowness under eye for shadowing.
Chemical peel and laser resurfacing of lower eyelid skin does not help to remove dark circles. The peeling and exfoliation of the outer layer of skin does not treat the area where blood cell pigments lies. Laser skin resurfacing is performed to remove outer epithelium of lower eyelid skin. Resurfacing should not reach underside of the skin or the deeper dermis, it can cause lower eyelid scar. The process may cause the risk of hyperpigmentation which can make lower eyelid skin even darker.
Effective Approach to Dark Circles:
An approach of potential leaching of the skin with hydroquinone topical preparations is effectively safe and workable. But this approach is not specifically for pigment issue. Hydroquinone suppresses the melanin and colour production of lower eyelid skin, so it is effective over the hyperpigmentation or sun exposure brown spots. This process does not seem work well with hemosiderin pigment stains problem. Although bleaching chemical is an effective approach, it would be suggested otherwise.
There are many skin creams in the market that claim effective dark circles improvement. Some of them are even labelled as dark circle repair serums. These creams contain agents like arnica, haloxyl, and other enzymes that allegedly clear the pigments and help to get rid of the dark circles. This process is quite slow and may take months for noticeable change.
Another approach to the dark circles is the intense pulse therapy with vascular filters and topical dark circle serums. Light therapy is specifically target to the breakdown of pigments without injuring outer eyelid skin. This process does not even require any recovery for the patient.
