WHAT MAKES THE EYE AREA DIFFERENT
The skin around our eyes is very thin and delicate and doesn’t contain many sebaceous glands. It is attached loosely to the muscles around the eyes, and lacks the usual fatty tissue that is present in other areas of the face. These factors mean that the eye area is often the first to show signs of aging. When looking to treat our eye area we are faced with many challenges, such as fatigue, dryness, crepiness, dark spots, puffiness and premature wrinkles. These are often due to the skin not being cared for properly. Using the right eye care will help support the skin around the eyes. It will not only target existing lines and wrinkles, but also to help to prevent new ones from forming.
UNDER EYE PUFFINESS
Puffiness is considered a temporary condition. It is most prominent after waking up in the morning. It’s brought on by things like salty foods, drinking alcohol, allergies, and crying. How you sleep can also play a role in causing puffiness. If you're laying flat, on your stomach or even on your side, lymphatic fluid collects in the under eye area. Lymphatic fluid (whose job it is is to clear the body of waste) depends on gravity and movement to do its job of detoxifying. Laying prone doesn't allow this fluid to drain away. It's worse when lying on your stomach since gravity plays a roll in the collection of lymph at your lowest point. You can see how gravity draws fluid to the delicate eye area with no way to correct itself. Once you wake up, get up and start moving which maintains an upright position the puffiness should improve. Unfortunately, with the ebb and flow of fluid under your eyes this delicate skin can lose tone, then fine lines and wrinkles become more prominent.
LYMPHATIC MASSAGE CAN HELP
The lymph vessels around your eyes are where fluid accumulates. There are no muscles attached to lymphatics that squeeze fluid away from the eye area the way that blood vessels can. Since lymph is dependent on gravity and movement to drain you might want to learn a couple simple lymphatic drainage techniques to push this process along.
ROSE QUARTZ ROLLER
A rose quartz roller can be very helpful if you feel you need an anti puffiness routine. Make sure to use real quartz. Less expensive rollers are sometimes made with plastic or glass. The real stone holds in the cold so much better thus making this treatment more effective. For eye treatments you want a roller that has two sizes of quartz, one on each end. The smaller one is your best choice for the eye area. Keeping the rose quartz roller in the fridge really helps.
HOW COLD HELPS
Cold temperatures constrict blood vessels and lymphatics, squeezing the flow of fluid away from the eye area. It can quickly diminish the appearance of under-eye puffiness. So, if you wake up with puffy eyes, pull out that jade or quartz roller you bought a while ago but hardly ever use. Hopefully you were storing it in the fridge. The combination of using a quartz roller, lymphatic drainage massage, cold, and certain peptides creates a winning combination to banish puffy eyes.
LYMPHATIC DRAINAGE MASSAGE
With this technique, using gentle pressure is a must. Lymph vessels work a bit like locks on a river. The lock prevents a backflow of fluid. Too much pressure and they jam up and the drainage point becomes dysfunctional. It's also important to use your roller going in the right direction for proper drainage. For most areas on the face that means going from the center of the face outward then down on your neck. You're going to go lightly, so you won't pull on the delicate eye skin. Pulling will only deepen lines. Face rollers help with lymphatic drainage and puffy eyes. But if you're looking for long term benefits, you need to employ actives that help de-puff the eye long after you're done rolling (more about that later). This is my favorite Lymphatic Drainage technique for the eyes:
Using soft pressure (not pulling at the skin) make tapping motions (using your middle finger) starting from the inner brow bone moving out, then under your eyes (along the top of the cheekbone) inwards towards your nose. Making circles. Do this at least 5 times per eye to help move blood and lymph away from the area.
Take both thumbs and place them under the inner corners of your eyebrows and press firmly upwards and hold for 5 seconds.
Pinch the inner corner of the eyebrows, the middle of the eyebrows, and the outer corner of the eyebrows. Hold each positions for 1 second. Repeat 3 times.
Now it's time to use your rose quartz roller. First take a pump of Anti-Puff Gelle (which also works best when cold) and spread it under your eyes where it is puffy. Take your cold quartz roller just under the eyes and move it across, gliding it outwards toward your temples, slowly with light pressure, all the way to the hair line. Repeat 5 times each side.
Then, using your roller, roll from the top of your brow up and out to the hair line. Do this three times, each time moving a little closer to the outside end of your brow. Repeat three times each side.
Next, using your quartz roller, continue to glide horizontally along the top of the cheek bone but when you get to the hair line you want to glide it down to the jaw line. And continue down to the base of your neck. This follows the correct path for lymphatic drainage to clear the lymph. Do this about ten times each side.
Using the larger quartz head, gently press under the eyes where ever you see puffiness. Again, this works best if the roller is really cold. Hold about 10 seconds.
BEST INGREDIENTS FOR PUFFY EYES
Puffy eyes are best treated in the morning. Serums that address puffiness are most helpful when used regularly over time. Instead of using a heavy eye cream try choosing a light eye serum. Our Anti-Puff Gelle contains peptides that aid in reinforcing delicate capillaries and encouraging lymphatic drainage. Ingredients to look for:
Hesperidin Methyl Chalcone – decreases capillary permeability. It has a vascular protective effect, meaning it strengthens capillaries, decreasing capillary leakage and increasing strength of vascular walls.
Dipeptide –2 – This tiny peptide (also known as Eyeliss) increases lymphatic circulation to reduce water retention creating an effective approach to treating puffy eyes. A clinical study showed a 70% improvement over two months.
Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-3 – improves firmness and elasticity as it decreases inflammation that could lead to puffiness. Originally developed for wound healing but now used as an anti-aging ingredient. It helps to prevent fine lines induced by repeated facial movements.
CoQ10 - This antioxidant increases reparative cellular energy. It plays a key role in the mitochondrial electron transport chain—a series of reactions that create energy for your cells which helps speed up repair for skin cells.
Japanese Green Tea - is a soothing antioxidant that fights against free radical damage. This helps preserve the skin longevity and reduces inflammation.
Watch for the next episode on The Eyes of March (part II) to learn more ways to care for this delicate eye area.
Elizabeth believes in "Longevity Skincare", the idea that beautiful skin can endure throughout one's lifetime when utilizing the best that science and nature has to offer. LONGEVITY is a science - based skincare line that appreciates skin of all ages. LONGEVITY by Elizabeth Renee provides hydration, nutrition and protection from environmental aging. Your skin will receive high performance ingredients to help energize and repair its cells, resulting in a healthy skin with an enduring, vital glow.