What Causes Dark Circles Under Eyes

Pigmented dark circles

Pigmented circles are brown, flat and extend along the lower lid and often onto the upper lid, giving a “panda” look. They are the most common type in Asian and darker skin tones.

• Genetic. Many patients have had them since their teens and a parent has them too. This hereditary form is very common in South Asian, Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern skin.
• Post-inflammatory. Any irritation of the eyelid skin, from eczema, allergy, rubbing or a reaction to a cosmetic, leaves melanin behind as it heals. Repeated flares build the colour up over years.
• Sun. Ultraviolet light stimulates melanin in the eyelid skin exactly as it does on the cheeks, and few people apply sunscreen right up to the lashes.

Pigmented circles do not change with sleep, do not shift with lighting and are still present when the skin is stretched.

Structural dark circles (tear trough and eye bag shadow)

Structural circles are not colour at all, but a shadow thrown by the shape of the lower lid under overhead light.

• Tear trough hollow. A groove runs from the inner corner of the eye diagonally down the cheek where the thin lid skin is tethered to bone. As the cheek fat descends with age the groove deepens, and the hollow reads as a dark crescent. This overlaps with sunken-looking eyes.
• Eye bag shadow. A bulge of fat or fluid above the trough makes the groove below it look deeper. People with eye bags often complain of dark circles when the real problem is the bag casting the shadow, and the eye bag causes page covers how to tell fat from fluid.

Structural circles vanish under flat, front-on light and when the head is tilted back, and they are the only type that filler can correct.

How to tell which type of dark circle you have

Two checks in a mirror sort most cases.

Stretch test. Place a fingertip on the cheek below the circle and pull the skin gently down and outwards.
– Colour unchanged means pigmented.
– Colour deeper or more blue means vascular.
– Colour that fades or disappears means structural, because the stretch flattens the trough and removes the shadow.

Lighting test. Look at the circle under a ceiling light, then hold a phone torch level with the face and shine it straight on.
– Still dark under both means pigment or vessels.
– Dark under the ceiling light but gone under the torch means structural.

Extra clues. Brown with a family history points to pigment. Blue-purple, worse in the morning, with a stuffy nose points to vascular and possibly allergic. A palpable hollow at the inner corner, or a bulge above the dark area, points to structural.

What makes dark eye circles worse

• Rubbing. The single most common aggravator. Rubbing from allergy, eczema, contact lenses or habit inflames the skin and leaves pigment, and over years loosens the skin so vessels show more.
• Atopic dermatitis. Eyelid eczema is a leading cause of post-inflammatory pigment in children and young adults, and the itch drives rubbing.
• Sleep. Short or broken sleep dilates the under-eye vessels and leaves the skin pale, so vascular circles stand out.
• Screen time. Long hours on screens reduce blinking, strain the orbicularis muscle and are associated with more rubbing and more congestion at the end of the day.
• Sun. Unprotected ultraviolet exposure darkens pigmented circles and thins the dermis over time.
• Salt, alcohol and dehydration. All three worsen morning puffiness and the vascular tint.
• Smoking. Smoking thins the skin and dulls its colour.
• Hormones. Pregnancy, the oral contraceptive pill and melasma-prone skin can darken the lower lids.

Frequently asked questions

Are dark eye circles genetic?
Pigmented dark circles very often are. If a parent has had brown circles since youth, the pattern is usually inherited and sits in the skin, so it responds to pigment treatment rather than sleep or creams alone.

Why are my dark circles worse in the morning?
Morning darkness points to the vascular type. Lying flat overnight lets fluid and blood pool in the lower lid, and the vessels show through the thin skin until gravity drains them during the day.

Can allergies cause dark eye circles?
Yes. Allergic rhinitis congests the veins that drain the lower eyelid and produces allergic shiners, a blue-purple vascular circle. Controlling the allergy, including sublingual immunotherapy for house-dust-mite allergy, lightens them.

Does lack of sleep cause dark circles?
Poor sleep makes every type look worse by dilating vessels and paling the skin, but it is rarely the only cause. Circles that remain after a week of good sleep are pigmented or structural.

Will dark eye circles go away on their own?
Post-inflammatory pigment can fade over months once the rubbing or eczema stops. Hereditary pigment, thin-skin vascular circles and tear trough shadows do not resolve without treatment.

General information, not medical advice. A registered medical practitioner should be consulted before any treatment. Dark Eye Circles Singapore does not sell treatments and is not a clinic.