The skin under your eyes is unlike the skin anywhere else on your face. Not only is it up to 10 times thinner than the skin on the rest of your face, but it is more sensitive. This is because it is the skin surrounding the area of our body’s designed to collect and interpret light. While the skin on the rest of your face and much of your body is thicker to repel chemicals and environmental stimulants, under eye skin, needs to be sensitive to do its photosensitive and environmentally dependent job.
So while your under eye area may be thin-skinned, it has a tough, unique job – and your under eye skin care regime needs to reflect this. While you can put your regular face cream under your eyes, it’s not recommended. Remember: it’s not the same sort of skin.
Using creams designed for the more robust skin on your face will wreak havoc on your undereye area, agitating the skin, and even expedite the signs of fatigue and aging — which is presumably what you are using an under eye cream to avoid.
Why?
For one, the skin around your eyes (and on your lips) has no oil glands, so it tends to dry out faster than the skin on your face. What’s more, the skin around your eyes moves more than the skin on much of your body. You just have to laugh, cry, squint, or grimace and it gets a workout. All this exercise will also cause your skin to dry out and age with time.
What You Need in an Under Eye Cream
So your under eye cream needs to be hardworking and gentle. It needs to be able to nourish and protect this area while accounting for its special, sensitive needs. Some under eye creams do this better than others.
Here’s what you need to look for when you’re in search of a cream to revitalize the skin around your peepers.
- Vitamin K. This will diminish darkness.
- Fragrance-free. Perfumes usually use harsher chemicals for their fragranced creams, so choose a product that is fragrance-free or has a milder, naturally-sourced scent.
- Hyaluronic acid. This powerful ingredient gives your under eye skin a powerful and soothing hit of moisture.
- Retinol. Retinol is used in many beauty creams and is specially formulated in under eye creams to encourage cell regeneration. Translation: younger looking skin.
- Neuropeptides. Neuropeptides work double duty to promote the production of elastin and collagen, which plump your skin, giving it a more youthful, healthful appearance.
- Vitamin C. Vitamin C will also bolster production of collagen.
- Vitamin E. This nutrient soothes and nourishes your skin.
While finding a product with all the ingredients your under eye area needs may be a tall order, it isn’t impossible. Go for doctor recommended creams, like the ones from SkinCeuticals. You’re not going to see instant results, high-end products will give you the most expedient, noticeable and nourishing results.
Other things you can do to give your eyes a lift?
- Get enough sleep
- Eat well
- Stay hydrated
- Limit or avoid alcohol
- Don’t smoke
- Use sunscreen