Why we get dark circles and eye bags
Whether it’s a night out with friends, a crying baby, or simple insomnia, we all know that lack of sleep affects our bodies. Along with fatigue and coffee cravings, poor sleep can make us frown at the dark, puffy circles under our eyes. Some of us are so bothered by these “under-eye bags” that we go to extreme lengths to try to get rid of them with moisturizers, chemical peels, or even skin bleaches.
But under-eye bags and dark circles differ in important ways. The swelling under our eyes that causes “bags” is usually due to environmental factors, like poor sleep or too much salt. Dark circles, however, are influenced by the structure of our face, and although a poor night’s sleep can accentuate them, some people can sleep like a baby every day and still have dark circles.
Understanding the causes of under-eye bags and dark circles can help determine whether they need to be treated or simply recognized as part of the natural diversity of the human face.
Why we care about bags under the eyes
An inch or two of skin under the eyes plays an outsized role in subtle signals of social status, says Tanuj Nakra, an oculofacial plastic surgeon at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin.
“When there is darkness in the area under the eyes, it can convey psychological states, emotions or involuntary physical states, such as being tired, sick, sleepy and indifferent, or having serious health problems, such as cancer or liver diseases,” he explains.
But this is not always the case. Many young, healthy people who sleep well may also have dark circles under their eyes. To understand why, you have to dive beneath the skin to the layers of bone and muscle that make up the face. At the lower edge of the eye socket is an important ligament, the orbicular retaining ligament (ORL), which holds the skin under the eyes in place. Some people, Nakra explains, are simply born with tighter ENT, which shows up more under the skin, causing dark circles to appear under the eyes.
Dark circles can also result from naturally thin and pale skin near the eyes. This can make the orbicularis muscle, a sunglasses-shaped structure that helps us blink, more visible. This darker color may be visible through the skin as dark circles.
How poor sleep makes under-eye bags worse
Tighter ENT, pale skin, and visible orbicularis muscle are all traits we might inherit from our parents, which can create the appearance of dark circles. Still, these hereditary dark circles are often unfairly lumped in with the effects of poor health or poor sleep, says Nakra.
When we have a particularly salty meal or a poor night’s sleep, our face can be subtly altered by swelling or, as scientists call this phenomenon, edema. Beneath our face is an ever-changing delta of blood vessels and arteries that carry vital oxygen to our tissues. “These arteries tend to have slight leaks and fluid leaks from the arteries into the tissues,” says Nakra. This swelling can cause bags under the eyes and accentuate the appearance of naturally dark skin under the eyes.
Poor sleep isn’t the only environmental factor that can lead to bags under the eyes. Separating our outer skin and ligaments is a layer of fat. Severe malnutrition leads to a loss of this fatty layer, which can increase the visibility of the underlying ligaments, increasing the appearance of dark circles.
To a lesser extent, natural aging can lead to thinner skin and reduced facial fat and firmness, which can accentuate both under-eye bags and dark circles.
Hyperpigmentation, where some areas of the skin are darker than others, can also cause dark circles. The cells, called melanocytes, dictate the natural color of our skin through the release of the pigment melanin. “People may experience hyperpigmentation in the under-eye area due to inflammation around the eyes, sun exposure, or irritation,” says Nakra. This means that people with darker skin are at greater risk of developing melanin-related dark circles under their eyes.
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In rare cases, the release of damaged red blood cells from a chemical, iron-rich hemosiderin, can cause dark circles.
Conditions like chronic venous insufficiency, in which damaged veins have difficulty returning blood to the heart, can lead to weakened circulation and leakage of hemosiderin into the area under the eye. This type of discoloration can also appear all over the body due to chronic illness or trauma.
How to treat bags under the eyes
Nakra says that if under-eye bags or dark circles turn out to be symptoms of an underlying condition, they can be useful indicators for future treatment. Lifestyle changes can help reduce puffy eyes. Another option is to use eye creams containing chemicals like caffeine, which reduce blood flow to the surrounding skin and help calm swelling.
If the dark circles are due to structural features of the face, the options are more limited. Thin skin can be concealed with concealer, and some expensive eye creams use chemicals that disrupt the passage of light through the skin, further reducing the purple coloration of the underlying muscle. But sometimes the only option is to embrace our facial features.
So the next time you wake up and look in the mirror, remember that under-eye bags and dark circles can be a natural feature of our face, as distinctive as freckles or moles.
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