Doctor, when it comes to eye creams, it’s natural to wonder which one reigns supreme in the world of dermatology. However, the truth is, not all dark circles are created equal, and the ideal under-eye cream is contingent on the type of dark circles you’re dealing with. At a dermatologist’s clinic, we kick off the detective work by scrutinizing the unique character of your dark circles before dishing out a prescription for that perfect under-eye elixir.

Pro Tip: Struggling with dark circles, acne, dull skin, pigmentation, or wrinkles? Try our Solution Finder Tool to get dermatologist-recommended regimes customized for your skin type and concerns—completely FREE!

Let’s delve into the intriguing realm of dark circles and decipher their various forms:

1. Pigmented Dark Circles:

• Cause: Stress, a demanding lifestyle, night shifts, and sleepless nights are common culprits. These dark circles often run in families, and allergies can exacerbate them through chronic rubbing.
• Appearance: Pigmented dark circles manifest as a result of increased melanin in the skin, accompanied by fine wrinkles and brown to black discoloration.
• Star Ingredients: Seek out skin-lightening powerhouses like arbutin, kojic acid, and Vitamin C.

2. Vascular Dark Circles:

• Cause: Engorged blood vessels are to blame here, often linked to chronic nasal blockages. They tend to trouble individuals prone to sinusitis, frequent colds, and excessive sneezing, requiring an appointment with an ENT specialist.
• Appearance: Vascular dark circles cast a purplish hue beneath the eyes.
• Solution: Look for ingredients like Vitamin K, caffeine, and Amino-5-guanidinopentanoic acid to tackle these.

3. Puffy Eyes or Eye Bags:

• Cause: Puffy eyes typically result from water retention at a younger age or fat protrusion in later years. If your eye bags fluctuate over time, water retention is likely the root cause.
• Appearance: You’ll notice a bulging under-eye area.
• Solution: Treatment for eye bags differs—find more about it in our article “How To Get Rid Of Puffy Eyes Or Eye Bags: Interview With Best Plastic Surgeon.”

4. Depression in Under-Eye Area:

• Cause: Depression in the under-eye area is a common occurrence with age, usually due to sagging cheeks. This can also be referred to as tear trough deformity. However, if you encounter a trough below your eye at a young age, it’s termed as Arcus deformity.
• Appearance: A noticeable trough beneath the eye; these dark circles vanish when you stretch the under-eye skin.
• Solution: Troughs reside at deeper levels, making eye creams ineffective. Fillers are the go-to solution—read more in our article “How To Get Rid Of Sunken Eyes – Dermatocare’s Interview with Best Dermatologist.”

5. Wrinkles and Fine Lines in Under-Eye Skin:

• Cause: Wrinkles and fine lines can cast a shadow and give a darker appearance to the under-eye skin.
• Solution: Guard your under-eye area with sun protection—sport oversized sunglasses to shield from UV rays or use sunscreen. Peptide or retinol-based eye creams might work for fine lines, and Botox injections are recommended for crow’s feet.

6. Dark Circles Involving Cheek and Forehead:

• Cause: Dark circles that stretch to the adjacent cheeks and forehead often stem from hereditary conditions like Pigment Demarcation Line and Dermal Melanocytosis.
• Appearance: These dark circles are typically brown, bluish, or blackish and extend to the adjacent areas, characterized by sharp, straight borders.
• Solution: LASERS may offer potential solutions for this category of dark circles.

7. Deep-Seated Eyes:

• Cause: Deep-set eyes are a distinctive case where the bone beneath the eyebrow casts a shadow in the under-eye area.
• Appearance: Dark circles due to shadow vanish when you look upward.
• Solution: Regrettably, in such instances, there’s not much that can be done except rocking fashionable zero-powered spectacles.

8. Multifactorial:

• Cause: Most dark circles are complex and might encompass multiple types listed above.
• Solution: Your dermatologist is your best ally in unraveling this mystery, examining your unique case, and determining the most suitable solution.

Curious to know what type of dark circles you have? Dive into the fascinating world of dark circles by watching this enlightening video.

Dermatologist recommended under eye creams

1. Fillerina Eye Contour Cream

AVAILABLE ONLINE @ Amazon.in and Amazon.com

Technology: Fillerina eye cream stands out because of Swiss patent technology. It has transdermal delivery system that delivers active ingredients in the second layer of skin.

Star ingredients: It has 12 hyaluronic acid, 3 collages and 3 elastin that can actually reach second layer of skin.

Benefits: Company claims that it can help in reducing fine lines, crow’s feet and tear trough deformity.  Drink 2 glass of water 10 minutes before applying this product.

Type of dark circle: Fine lines and trough. These types of dark circles can be corrected by Botox and fillers completely. Fillerina eye counter cream is a cheaper and painless option. You will notice a fine-line reduction after three months of continuous usage.

Recommended for: It is highly recommended to prevent ageing sign in your under area.

2. Sesderma K-Vit Anti-Dark Circles Serum

AVAILABLE ONLINE: Amazon.in and Amazon.com

Technology: Secderma K Vit has a unique liposomal technology that aid peneteration the active ingredients deeper into your skin.

Star Ingredients:

• Vitamin K oxide works on engorged blood vessels in under eye area and reduce build up of blood pigments.
• Gingko biloba that improves blood circulation,
• Hyaluronic acid and organic silica to that reduces bags and wrinkles.
• Castanea sativa extracts is powerful anti-oxidant that help in reversing oxidative damage.

Type of dark circles: Primarily vascular dark circles

Recommended for: If you have purplish hue in unde eye area along with slight swelling and few fine lines, then Sesderma K-Vit is best choice for you.

3. Cera ve eye repair cream

AVAILABLE ONLINE at Amazon.in and Amazon.com

Technology: MYE delivery technology is liposomal delivery system that deliver active ingredients deeper into skin.

Star ingredients:

• Hyaluronic acid provides deep hydration to under eye skin.
• 3 ceramides repair skin barrier
• Niacinamide that lighten your skin.
• Asparagopsis armata extract is  algal proteins have been used as antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, and protective agents.

Type of dark circles: Pigmented and dry under eye skin

Recommended for: Cera ve Skin Repair cream is recommended for brown or pigmented dark circles in a patient with sensitive skin. If you are prone to allaergies in eye area, then Cera Ve might suit you.

4. The Ordinary Caffeine Solution 5% + EGCG

AVAILABLE ONLINE @

India: Amazon.in

United States: Amazon.com

Star Ingredients:

• Caffeine helps in reducing purple discolouration and puffiness of eye by constricting the blood vessel.
• EGCG (Epigallocatechin Gallatyl Glucoside) is the active agent in green tea. It helps in reversing oxidative damage.
• Glycine Soja (Soybean) Seed Extract has soothing and skin lightening action.
• Lactic acid is alpha hydroxy acid that has gentle exfoliation and skin lightening action.

Type of dark circle: Pigmented Primarily. Might also help vascular and puffy eyes.

Recommended for: If you have mix of purple and brawn hue under your skin along with puffiness.

5. Sesderma Retiage Eye Contour Gel

AVAILABLE ONLINE @

India: Amazon.in

United States: Amazon.com

Technology: Liposomal technology that delivers the product into the deep layer of skin

Star ingredients:

• Retinol: Sesderm has 3-retinol system in liposomes (retynil, retinol and retinaldehyde). Retinoids have numerous studies to supports the anti-ageing action.
• Alpha-Arbutin is a skin lightening agent
• Vitamin C in form Ascorbyl Glucoside has skin lightening, anti-ageing and skin repairing action.
• Peptides: It has 3 peptides that can help in syntheisis of collagen and elastin.
• Hydrolyzed Rice Bran Protein, Hydrolyzed Sodium Hyaluronate provide deep nourishment.

Type of dark circles: Primary for Wrinkles, fine lines and crows feet. Also reduces pigmented dark circles

Recommended for: If you have many fine lines and wrinkles of aged skin, then this product might help. It also has skin lightening action. However, it should not be tried by sensitive skin or those prone to allergy.

6. RoC Multi Correxion 5 in 1 Eye Cream

AVAILABLE AT

India: Amazon.in

United States: Amazon.com

Technology: Hexyl-R Complex™ Technology improves a wide range of visible signs of aging including a loss of evenness of skin tone and radiance caused by biological stress.

Star ingredients:

• Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Extract can also help to increase microcirculation and reduce the appearance of dark circles.
• Hexylresorcinol is a potent skin lightening agent.
• Panthenol has soothing action
• Shea butter provides deep hydration
• Ascorbic acid is most potent for of Vitamin C. It has skin lightening anti-ageing and skin repairing action.

Type of dark circles: Pigmented

Recommended for: If you have brown discolouration of under eye area along with dry skin, then this product can help you.

Lifestyle changes to reduce dark circle

Beside dermatologist recommended under eye cream, you should follow lifestyle changes:

Diet: A well-balanced diet rich in iron, vitamin K, vitamin C not only reduces your dark circles but also gives a healthy glow to the skin. Consumption of excessive alcohol, smoking, caffeinated sodas, addictive drugs, etc. should be avoided.

Sleep: Both, lack of sleep and excessive sleep should be addressed. Research now shows that 6.5 to 7.5 hours of sleep at night with 15-20 minutes of power naps in the daytime is sufficient.

Sun protection: Wearing good quality sunglasses and applying sunscreen daily on the under-eye area prevents fine lines and pigmentation in under-eye skin. Zinc oxide based physical sunscreens should be preferred over chemical sunscreen in the under-eye area.

Good eye make-up habits: Matte rather than creamy concealers (with a slightly lighter colour than your foundation) can be dabbed on under the eye area and smudged carefully with surrounding skin by applying face powder. You should avoid mascara or eyeliner on the lower eyelid as they can smear on the surrounding skin and give a darker appearance as the day passes on. Always remove your makeup gently with cleansing milk without much rubbing or pulling the skin off under the eye.

Procedures for dark circles

You might need the following procedures for non-responsive dark circles:

• Chemical peels
• Micro-dermabrasionCarboxytherapy
• Radiofrequency
•  Fillers
• LASERS
• Surgery

REFERENCES:

• Periorbital Hyperpigmentation: A Comprehensive Review
• Periorbital hyperpigmentation: a study of its prevalence, common causative factors and its association with personal habits and other disorders
• Periorbital Hyperpigmentation: Review of Etiology, Medical Evaluation, and Aesthetic Treatment.