The Skin Nerd: How to banish unsightly bags under your eyes
I am 43 and have recently noticed bags under my eyes — I’m not impressed!
No amount of eye cream seems to make a blind bit of difference. My upper eyelids have started to droop as well, they are nearly coming over my eyelashes, I hate it!
I feel like I look like a different person.Do you think there’s any solution to this? I’m not averse to cosmetic surgery if it would really make a difference. — Gail, Co Cork.
Seeing a difference in your eye area is part and parcel of being in your 40s but we can work on improving how it looks and prevent it from getting worse.
You need a multi-pronged method of attack, featuring vitamin A, antioxidants and peptides.
Drooping, sagging and lines of any kind occur due to the degradation of collagen and elastin within the skin, these being the proteins that give our skin structure, plumpness and elasticity.
As we age, our own production of these proteins slows dramatically and the stockpile we already have starts to break down.
This breakdown becomes accelerated by our lifestyle and the environment.
Smoking, alcohol consumption, excessive sugar intake, processed foods and stress all contribute so if you feel you need an extra kick to push these out the door of your life, there you go.
On the inside, we need vitamin C to create collagen so up your intake through your diet or supplements like Advanced Nutrition Programme’s Skin Vit C (€2 for 60, available from selected salons and pharmacies or theskinnerd.com).
I’m keen on Advanced Nutrition Programme specifically as they are skin-oriented, I know the level of care that goes into every single supplement they create.
Topically, we need to take out the big guns. If you’re not already using a vitamin A serum, now is the time.
We formulated Skingredients Skin Protein (€42, available from selected pharmacies, salons and department stores) to be eye-safe, and it contains retinyl palmitate, a gentle ester form of vitamin A, vitamin C and a pro-collagen peptide that is clinically-proven to help stimulate production of collagen.
These ingredients will improve your skin’s tone and texture, and help to prevent any further sagging.
Introduce more antioxidants alongside your vitamin A serum through a serum like Skingredients Skin Veg (€42, available from selected pharmacies, salons and department stores). Not to toot my own horn but it’s so bloody good, it’s nearly entirely sold out across the country.
It’s possible you’ve been using the wrong eye cream. The Environ Youth EssentiA Vita-Peptide Eye Gel (€74, available with consultation from salons and theskinnerd.com) is pricey but powerful and is one of very few eye products I’ll stand behind. Start lashing this on your under-eyes and on your brow bone ASAP.
To be entirely honest with you, if you are seeing a lot of overhanging, drooping skin, the most effective treatment will be cosmetic surgery.
What you’re looking for is a blepharoplasty, a procedure that removes excess muscle, skin and fat from around the eye area.
This would treat both over your eye and under your eye and would have permanent effects. There is downtime of up to ten days (or possibly more) after this procedure but that is to be expected with any surgery, cosmetic or otherwise.
Even if you do opt for blepharoplasty, you still need to be looking after your skin with antioxidants and collagen-boosting ingredients daily.
There’s just no simple solution when it comes to skin, but when you know what you should be using, it gets so much easier.
THE NERDIE PICK
This moisturiser with a difference is from Murad, inspired by Japanese and Korean gel formulas. Bursting with hydration, vitamins and peptides, it is ideal for those who want hydration without any heaviness or oily residue.
It’s completely oil-free, yet filled with ceramides, skin-native fats that actually make up the composition of our barrier.
It’s healing, soothing and gives you antioxidant protection on the daily. It’s like a watery jelly that melts into your skin in no time, and your sun protection factor and makeup will glide on.
■ Murad Nutrient-Charged Water Gel (€65, available from selected department stores, salons and theskinnerd.com.
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