No, lack of sleep doesn't necessarily cause dark circles.
So what causes them? Are they genetic? And why are dark circles becoming a makeup trend? Your questions about dark circles answered by an expert. Dr. Angelo Landriscina
So what causes them? Are they genetic? And why are dark circles becoming a makeup trend? Your questions about dark circles answered by an expert. Dr. Angelo Landriscina
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00So you're telling me the same dark circles, the same dark motherf**kers I've been trying
00:03to get rid of for years have become a trend?
00:06This trend of doing your makeup to make it look like you have dark circles,
00:11I find really interesting.
00:17She cute!
00:22Are you sleeping okay?
00:23I'm sleeping fine bro.
00:25Being a baddie is exhausting.
00:26Let me have dark circles.
00:28While we know that getting good sleep is obviously good for your overall health,
00:32it may not make a difference when it comes to your dark circles.
00:36What? This is wild!
00:38And interestingly, there's not really any data showing that not getting enough sleep
00:43will lead to dark circles.
00:45And while they did find that there were negative parameters of skin health that
00:50were associated with people who were getting poor sleep, dark circles wasn't one of them.
00:59Y'all, I tried hemorrhoid cream, you know preparation H, on my face.
01:06I'm down with it!
01:07It may help temporarily.
01:09Most hemorrhoid creams have ingredients in them that are what we call vasoconstrictors.
01:15Basically, they will make blood vessels constrict and temporarily get smaller.
01:20You know, people have used them on their dark circles to kind of minimize the appearance
01:24of the vasculature and the vessels that sit under that skin.
01:28I would never recommend using something that's not, you know, tested on that area of skin
01:37in that area.
01:41Dark circles can have multiple causes.
01:44Those include pigmentary changes or hyperpigmentation.
01:48Basically, darkening of the melanin that gives our skin its color.
01:53Other causes can be something that I call visible subcutis, meaning the fact that the
01:59skin in this area is so thin that you can actually see some of the structures underneath,
02:04including muscles and vasculature.
02:06And the third common cause of dark circles is something called tear trough depression.
02:12And that's when there is an actual physical indentation under the eye.
02:18That's commonly caused by aging.
02:24We really don't know.
02:26However, you know, in my own anecdotal opinion and in my work with patients,
02:33I have realized that people do bring up dark circles running in their family.
02:37So there is most likely a genetic component there,
02:40much like with many things that we see when it comes to skin and overall health.
02:46Generally speaking, people who have more melanin content in their skin
02:51are usually more prone to hyperpigmentation,
02:54so basically darkening of certain areas of the skin.
03:05When it comes to pigmented dark circles,
03:07so those that are caused by increased melanin pigment in the skin,
03:13aggressive sun protection is going to be your best friend.
03:16So that includes sunscreen use with reapplication every two hours,
03:21seeking shade, using protective clothing, hats, sunglasses.
03:26Other ingredients that could be helpful in getting the skin tone to normalize
03:31include things like retinoids, so vitamin A derivatives, vitamin C, and the like.
03:37And procedurally, you can think about things like resurfacing lasers
03:41or platelet-rich plasma injection,
03:43which is now being investigated for its effects
03:46that it could have on the dermis and thickening the skin.
03:52Oh my god, it's so cold, but this feels amazing.
03:57You'll notice a common theme in them is, you know,
04:00most of the time what you're putting on the area is cold.
04:04Cold spoon, cold cucumber, cold teabag.
04:07So the blood vessels in our skin have this, you know, automatic reaction
04:12where they tense up and close down when they're exposed to cold.
04:18That's a mechanism within the skin that's supposed to, you know, keep our body heated.
04:23That could make dark circles look temporarily better,
04:28but it's not going to be a long-term fix for them.
04:31And I'm sorry, dark circles who?
04:37You know, this trend of doing your makeup to make it look like you have dark circles
04:42I find really interesting.
04:44We've seen a lot of these other trends come up on social media
04:48from, you know, Gen Z, like there's like a sunburnt makeup trend also.
04:54And I think that, you know, our beauty standards are really cyclical in a way.
05:01And if it helps to change maybe some of our beauty standards
05:04and helps to make people a little bit more comfortable
05:08with how their skin naturally is, then it's a good thing.