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For quite some time now, I cannot seem to get rid of the bags under my eyes. I surmise they formed due to my lack of sleep, compounded with my history of late-night gaming and regular intake of caffeine. Ever since, I have stopped drinking coffee (which was the source of my caffeine), discontinued the late-night stuff, and have tried to put in 6 hours of sleep every night. I have been doing this for two months now, but they don't seem to be going away anytime soon! Does anyone here have any suggestions or tips on what I should be doing to help?

Many times, it's allergies that cause bags under the eyes and/or dark eyes. Seasonal allergies such as hay fever, ragweed, etc. Even if you don't have the usual symptoms of allergies right now, an allergy may be developing. Ask your MD.

Some people have used (and don't laugh) Preparation H, and swear by it. I never tried it, but I can see how it makes sense.

One caveat: the skin under the eyes is VERY delicate. So if you ever apply some kind of under-eye cream, dab it on VERY gently with your pinkies, working from the outside in. (This last advice is from "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," so I know it's infallibly correct. ha ha)

Good luck.

The answer is in the question. You know what causes your dilemnas. Now it's only a matter of making those changes, for yourself, to change your own life.

boiwunderkind saidThe answer is in the question. You know what causes your dilemnas. Now it's only a matter of making those changes, for yourself, to change your own life.

ditto

OK, you're too young to recommend the under-eye cream I use. Ironically, one of its main ingredients is caffeine. No joke

You are 21 years old! Please don't start focusing on every imperfection it will make you life miserable. You look perfect.

morholt saidYou are 21 years old! Please don't start focusing on every imperfection it will make you life miserable. You look perfect.

You know, this is pretty good advice.

My boyfriend spends a lot of time looking at himself in the mirror. He's had a nose job (looks different, but not better). His sister looks at herself in the mirror too much too. She's had liposuction. (Doesn't make any difference if you don't eat well). And their other sister looks at herself in the mirror too much too. She's anorexic.

You're a great-looking guy, awesome bod. My tip would be to stop looking in the mirror, and if someone comes up to you and says, "Jeeze, those bags under your eyes are totally disgusting - they make me feel sick," then you should consider acting violently towards them.

Look at your good points - they're what build confidence. And if that doesn't convince you, then the supermodels always recommend haemmaroid cream under their eyes.

I worried about the same things. I did every cream and spent tons of money on this problem. 76 dollars for a tube of stuff that i didnt find did anything.

I found what i was looking for at the health food shop. It costs about 7 dollars for a tube.

Gets rid of dark circles, redness, and bags, takes about three applications. Use it at night before u go to bed .

The Name of the wonder cream is CAMOCARE c-spot.

It has chamomile in it and that gets rid of bags, redness, puffiness, and dark circles.

Hope this helps.

I use the Miracle Two ( as the Roman Numerals) gel for the dark circles and wrinkles. Your looking aroung 16.00 for it at the health food store. Good Luck!

Thanks everyone for responding. I'll look into the products some of you wrote about. As for my habits, I've realized the factors leading to them but by the time I stopped it was already there and I guess after two months time they are slowly retreating. The main thing right now is sleep since I've long cut out the caffeine. It's just really hard to get more than 6 (7 if I'm real lucky) hours of sleep on most days due to my schedules and studies. Plus I always wake up at least once in the night for no reason. Sigh.. guess I'll have to turn to modern chemistry to do the job

Make sure you're drinking enough. Dehydration, especially long term, can cause dark circles as badly as lack of sleep.

I can vouch for Slackerjock's recommendation -- Camocare. When I used it in the past, friends who knew commented favorably. When I used the junk from the drugstore, well, I wasn't complimented.

As for DiverScience's advice, well, he's always right. Check your hydration.

Boiwunderkind also gets it right on the mark. And he did it in fewer words than me.

(Wow, I feel so smart now, just referring to what all the other people here wrote in. ha ha )

Your comments about waking up at least once a night, and sleeping only ca 6 hours, this caught my attention. You're not getting a consistent, even, deep sleep thru the night. Therefore, you're not getting the rest you need. All kinds of possibilities for this: some depression, being worried about something, anxiety about a new situation or a crisis, eating habits (late night?), overall sugar intake, your room not being dark enough at night, having your computer in your room with the hard drive and/or wifi on all night ...

you dont smoke do you?

Slackerjock said
The Name of the wonder cream is CAMOCARE c-spot.
It has chamomile in it and that gets rid of bags, redness, puffiness, and dark circles.

Why do you use c-spot instead of the product designed specifically for eyes?

http://www.camocare.com/product_under_eye.html

Thanks again! As for smoking -- never have never will. I *try* to get enough water in but I never know exactly how much I would need since depending on who you ask.. "8 cups a day" "6 cups a day" "enough that you are always going to the bathroom every hour". I just try to drink enough so that I'm not thirsty. It's hard for me to drink more water then that since I get the feeling of being bloated. As for sleeping, I tend to sleep on my stomach which when you think about it.. it would pool fluids and stuff there. I guess that needs to be changed then. Awesome advice from everyone appreciate it very much!

The Bill clinton look is in! (Just get some sleep and hydrate properly)

Yes Prep' H all the stars use it and actors... But make sure its a new one not a used one he he he...

relokou: took a look at your pics (you are very handsome, btw) and i suspect with you it's genetic. they are actually fat pads, and there is not alot you can do to truly get rid of them.

of course avoiding the all-nighters and everything else the guys said here is wise in order to minimize them, but they won't ever totally go away (short of surgery.)

lots of the advice here is good, but i don't recommend prep-H on your face. there are some very good products that you can get which contain witch hazel (the active ingred in prep-H) plus lots of other good stuff. it's never too young to start on a good skin-care regimen!

oh one other thing: watch your sodium (salt) intake. it'll definitely make them worse if you retain fluid. sodium is really high not only in salty foods but most processed foods and almost ALL fast food. evil stuff...

I read somewhere that preparation-H dabbed on the bags at night before you go to bed reduces the swelling.

drinking too much water will just make you bloated and then make your eyes swell more. As long as you're peeing pretty clear you're golden. 8 glasses is way more than needed.

something you can use for short term, like before you go out for an evening, is put your face in a bowl of ice water or put some ice in a washcloth and put it on your eyes like you're treating a black eye [don't put the ice straight on your eye, it could be too cold for your skin]

If I go out too late on a Saturday night, I always look a hundred times better after my Sunday morning spin class. Nothing seems to brighten up my eyes like some blood flowing into my head.

Cher's plastic surgeon is on speed dial

Hey there. I wonder if your dilemma has anything to do with water retention. This can be what the "bags" under a person's eyes can be. This can be due to several reasons. If your sodium intake is too high, if for whatever reason your body can't excrete fluids at a healthy rate or perhaps it's simply genetic.

Preparation H can work well if it is simply water retention. If it does work then you know why those bags are there. But I don't recommend doing this all the time as it is recommended for your doughnut and not under your eyes.
Some guys will use it on their love handles and to help treat the "muffin top" that can hang over the back side of people's waists just above the buttocks. But this is for people who are working with water retention. It will not improve or decrease the look of fat.

A healthy way to work with fluid retention in the body is to get the kidneys working. Sometimes sluggish kidneys can be the culprit, or rather the partner in crime, when it comes to fluid build up. Reasons why the kidneys are not doing their job might be related to diet, lifestyle, etc.

I think herbs are great to help ameliorate imbalances but only so long as you make an attempt to eat well and live a balanced lifestyle. No point in trying to provide what your body needs with herbs if you are partying, drinking and eating fast food all day.

Watermelon seeds are supposed to be great at stimulating sluggish kidneys to function properly. I'm only giving you food for thought. But what I'm talking about is very safe to do as well. Putting eye cream under your eyes is just a cosmetic fix and doesn't address the problem directly. You can google watermelon seeds tea and find a reputable distributor to mail order them to you as they can be impossible to find in even the most thorough of health food stores. I've used it before. It's not bad tasting either.

Good luck at finding the root of your concern and being able to fix it. But frankly, from your pics you look fine to me.

Whatever you find that works for you please be sure to post it here. I'd be curious to know what works.

Oh, I understand your worry man. I have bags under my eyes (when i squint or smile) and it bugs me a lot. I also have gotten dark circles over the years...

One thing I use is Biotherm for men... under eye cream. As far as I know you MIGHT be able to find it online- but I think they pulled their products from US shelves- which is too bad bc they make great things. I noticed that in order to see results- which I did- I had to use it! Not just here and there! Every day.

Drinking lots of water, eating healthy and getting sleep are obviously other things you can do to see if it reduces the 'bags'.

Make sure you do not rub your eyes. that area is very sensitive. You would be amazed how an extra hour of sleep can do wonders for the body, as well.

Try this.

Specifically, check out the under eye gel.

Technically, six hours of sleep each night is still insufficient. I know the range varies, generally depending on age, but I think you should try to shoot for 8 hours sleep. I'm lucky if I get 7 from my late-night web-surfing and chatting here on RJ, but I don't think I have the eye-bag issue. I often feel tired, though.

Thanks again for writing, especially morethanmuscle -- I read each one thoroughly and with heightened desperation. It seems from when I first wrote this thread until now, the situation has not improved significantly. I am beginning to think that so long as I am in school and forced to have weird sleep cycles that revolve around constant exams and early morning classes, this will be a long-term problem with no end in sight.

I have constantly been keeping myself hydrated. I surprise myself with the volume of water that I consume especially in the afternoons. I now try and get at least seven hours of sleep each night, and am beginning to frequently clock eight. However, another problem arises in that I cannot fall asleep or stay asleep! While I turn off the computer and lights at around 10:30, I probably won't actually drift into sleep until around 11:15. And then I always will wake up around 2-3 in the morning with no reason that I can recall. That means by the time I have to actually get out of bed at 7:30 the next day, I'm still probably at the six hour range of actual sleep. But I've looked into various websites and their sleep tips, so I've been implementing some of those.

I still rarely drink coffee -- and when I do it is decaffeinated, still do not consume caffeine, and I think I eat quite healthy foods, nothing heavily processed. I've been trying to avoid staying up too late, even on the weekends. It's hard when you are bored and don't feel sleepy (tired yes, but sleepy no). I still find myself glued to my LCD screen far too long of times.

I'll give an update when the situation gets better, maybe in three months if I'm lucky. (oh man)

Another thing u can try is preparation H. i have never used it, but i know people who have and it has helped to reduce the swelling.