Borse sotto gli occhi

Bags under the eyes and a swollen face in the morning: why it happens and how to fix it

Often companions of dark circles, bags under the eyes are an annoying gift of sleepless nights. In addition to bags, although less often, it can happen that you look in the mirror and find yourself with a swollen and lanky face. Although they are totally harmless cosmetic imperfections, the main cause of this swellingwhether it is under the eyes or more generalized, is to be found in the stagnation of the liherealways caused by the fantastic four: not much sleep, smoke, alcohol And unbalanced diet (special guest, stress that affects for example the quality of sleep and more). Usually it is temporary blemishesbut they can hide pitfalls, for example when they are caused by allergies, or by systemic pathologies, if they occur constantly.

The role of inflammation in fluid stagnation

The bags, unfortunately not designer, are called by the technical name of “edema periorbital”, I am a enlargement of the lower eyelid and together with swelling as soon as you wake up, they are caused by a series of factors. Usually, swelling under the eyes is more common and more noticeable than generalized swelling over the entire face, this is because the skin in this area is thinner and more sensitive.

In the healthy population, bags and facial swelling are caused by a stagnation of liquids, therefore more evident in the periorbital area. This stagnation in turn is caused by ainflammationwhether from the use of alcohol, smoking, poor diet.

alcohol and sleep

Even when we sleep little a stagnation of liquids is created especially in the area around the eyes, which can lead to the appearance of bags under the eyes, often accompanied by dark circles. The appearance of the bags is further worsened if we add to this an unregulated diet rich in salty foods, typically responsible for water retention and therefore, stagnation of liquids.

Added to this is stress, which affects our body both directly by increasing the level of general inflammation in the body, and indirectly by worsening sleep, for example, causing us to smoke more or eat junk food.

The bags increase with advancing age or due to pathologies

As we age, they can instead be caused by a physiological aging of skin structures. In fact, as we age, the skin tends to lose elasticity: less elastin is produced collagentwo proteins whose fibers make up the structure, i.e. the scaffolding of the dermis, the layer of skin located immediately under the epidermis. You understand well that if a scaffolding fails, everything it supports tends to give way.

Old age eye bags

The activity of the brain also decreases with age fibroblastsa class of cells which produces the substances present in the dermis: in this way, the normal cell turnover slows down. This failure leads the fat normally present around the eyes to “slip” and settle in the lower area of ​​the eye.

Other causes may be pathological

Beyond these which can be simple signs of tiredness and agingand which influence our lives from a merely point of view aestheticit must be taken into account that having a swollen face or bags under the eyes can also have other causes.

In fact, we must not forget that we also get in touch with allergens or agents irritating (such as powder or cosmetics) and stings insect it can activate the process of inflammation and edema, thus causing the eyes, or the entire face, to swell. They can also be a symptom of ocular or systemic diseases, such as Cushing’s syndrome and hypothyroidism, the diagnosis and subsequent treatment of which are purely medical.

What are the remedies for bags under the eyes

We reiterate that, in most cases, it is temporary and completely harmless blemisheswhich often affect our self-esteem more than our health. In any case, to get rid of the bags, the best thing to do would be to have an adequate diet, reduce the consumption of alcohol, smoking and foods rich in salt, and the good old “beauty sleep”.

Beauty sleep

But the so-called “Grandma’s remedies” and some cosmetic discoveries. First of all, the Freddo! Not directly applying ice cubes to the eyelids (be careful, ice never comes into direct contact with the skin!), but using cold disks or ones kept in the fridge. The cold acts like vasoconstrictorthat is, it narrows the volume of blood vessels and helps reduce fluid stagnation.

In the cosmetic field, several studies have instead demonstrated the effectiveness of extracts based on caffeine, escin, witch hazel and the famous cucumber slices in reducing puffiness under the eyes, taken into consideration, coincidentally, for their vasoconstrictor and anti-inflammatory activity .

For the record, it must be said that there are also surgical procedures that can reduce or eliminate periocular edema, but perhaps before going under the knife, it is better to try to sleep on it.

Sources:

Spada, F., Lui, A. H., & Barnes, T. M. (2019). Use of formulations for sensitive skin improves the visible signs of aging, including wrinkle size and elasticity. Clinical, cosmetic and investigational dermatology, 12, 415–425. Ai Oba; Chris Edwards. (2006). Relationships between changes in mechanical properties of the skin, wrinkling, and destruction of dermal collagen fiber bundles caused by photoaging. , 12(4), 283–288 Grillo, A., Salvi, L., Coruzzi, P., Salvi, P., & Parati, G. (2019). Sodium Intake and Hypertension. Nutrients, 11(9), 1970. Goodman, G.D., Kaufman, J., Day, D., Weiss, R., Kawata, A.K., Garcia, J.K., Santangelo, S., & Gallagher, C.J. (2019). Impact of Smoking and Alcohol Use on Facial Aging in Women: Results of a Large Multinational, Multiracial, Cross-sectional Survey. The Journal of clinical and aesthetic dermatology Sami, M. S., Soparkar, C. N., Patrinely, J. R., & Tower, R. N. (2007). Eyelid edema. Seminars in plastic surgery, 21(1), 24–31. Joshi, Muskan & Perera, Pramodhiya & Korrapati, Naga Harika. (2021). Effective Home Remedies that Provide Quick Relief for Puffy Eyes. 43-51. Ahmadraji, F., & Shatalebi, M. A. (2015). Evaluation of the clinical efficacy and safety of an eye counter pad containing caffeine and vitamin K in emulsified Emu oil base. Advanced biomedical research, 4, 10. Wang, Z. R., & Ni, G. X. (2021). Is it time to put traditional cold therapy in rehabilitation of soft-tissue injuries out to pasture?. World journal of clinical cases, 9(17), 4116–4122. Hamie, H., Yassine, R., Shoukfeh, R., Turk, D., Huq, F., & Moossavi, M. (2024). A review of the efficacy of popular eye cream ingredients. International journal of women’s dermatology, 10(2), e156

RM Sapolsky “Why zebras don’t get ulcers” Castelvecchi publisher