Are "panda eyes" caused by staying up late? Dark circles may be more complicated than you think...

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In daily life, dark circles are a problem for many people. Once they appear, they will make the whole person look haggard, tired, and vicissitudes. In everyone's general understanding, dark circles are caused by not getting enough rest.

But in fact, dark circles are not entirely caused by staying up late. Many people's dark circles may not have much to do with staying up late. Could it be that our experience that staying up late will cause dark circles is wrong?

analyze

What are dark circles?

Does it have anything to do with staying up late?

Dark circles are not a disease, but a condition in which the skin around the eyes is darker. It is also a common cosmetic problem that does not have much impact on human health. It is not necessarily caused by disease, but is related to our lifestyle, inflammation, chloasma or pigmentation around the eyes, cosmetics, congenital factors, etc.

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Staying up late is not the direct cause of dark circles. You cannot blame staying up late for dark circles. So if you have dark circles, it is best to see a doctor to determine the type of dark circles, so that you can analyze and trace the cause, treat the cause, and get a professional treatment plan. So, staying up late is a factor that makes dark circles worse, but it is not the root cause of dark circles.

However, the depth of dark circles can change. It has been confirmed that late sleep time is often accompanied by more severe dark circles. Because sleep, excessive use of eyes, insomnia and other factors will cause periorbital tissue edema, local blood stasis and other effects, it will change the appearance and degree of darkness of dark circles, and finally aggravate structural and vascular dark circles.

Wait, what about structural dark circles and vascular dark circles? Are there different types of dark circles?

There are actually four types of dark circles

There are four types of dark circles: pigmentary, vascular, structural and mixed. Among them, there are only two types of dark circles that are affected by staying up late, namely structural and vascular dark circles.

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1. Pigmented dark circles are mainly caused by the increase of melanin or melanocytes in the periorbital skin, which leads to the brown-black appearance of the upper and lower eyelids. In some special cases, the appearance of dark circles is related to some diseases. Patients with allergic rhinitis, asthma, atopic dermatitis, and eczema may have blue-gray pigmentation in the periorbital skin.

In addition, a small number of people who take oral contraceptives or use specific eye drops will experience periorbital pigmentation when using the medication. For this type of dark circles, when the eyelid skin is pulled by hand, the pigmented area of ​​the dark circles will stretch, but the color will not be significantly lighter.

2. Vascular dark circles are mainly caused by blood stasis in the microvessels around the eyes, slow blood flow, increased blood volume, thin skin and lack of subcutaneous fat, which causes the orbicularis oculi muscle deep in the skin and the microvascular network in the dermis to penetrate the skin, forming a grayish appearance on the local eyelids.

This type of dark circles often manifests as a bluish-purple appearance on the inner side of the lower eyelid, and is the most common type in Asians. When the eyelid skin is pulled by hand, this area will stretch and the color will not fade. In addition, the local bluish-purple appearance will become thinner as the skin is pulled, and the deep blood vessels will become more obvious, and the color of the dark circles will become darker.

3. Structural dark circles are caused by the shadows formed by the structure of the eye under light, and are further divided into congenital and acquired. Congenital structural dark circles are mainly caused by the shadows formed by the tear grooves, which gradually deepen with age. Acquired structural dark circles are mainly caused by the loosening of the lower eyelid skin, the bulging of orbital fat, and eyelid edema.

4. Mixed dark circles are accompanied by multiple types of dark circles mentioned above.

Can different types of dark circles be cured?

Because different types of dark circles have many different factors interacting with each other, different treatments are needed for different types of dark circles.

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For pigmented dark circles, topical medications can be used to inhibit the synthesis of local skin melanin. Chemical peeling can also be used to accelerate skin renewal and remove melanin particles from the epidermis, or pigment-selective lasers can be used to destroy melanin particles inside the skin.

For vascular dark circles, vascular selective laser is used to target and destroy the capillaries and dilated veins around the eyes. There is also local filler treatment, which can increase the thickness of the eyelid skin and effectively cover the subcutaneous vascular network with filler materials.

For structural dark circles, laser treatment is still used to improve skin sagging. Filling treatment is used to improve the shadows caused by the tear groove, combined with surgical treatment to improve local tissue structure abnormalities.

However, the current treatments cannot completely remove dark circles, but can only alleviate them. If dark circles already appear, staying up late and using your eyes too much will only aggravate the severity of the dark circles and affect the treatment effect. So try to avoid all bad habits that will aggravate dark circles.

As far as dermatological diseases are concerned, many diseases are closely related to neuropsychiatric factors. Staying up late, sleeping late, and being tired and exhausted will not only aggravate dark circles, but will also induce or aggravate acne, folliculitis, eczema, urticaria, hair loss, vitiligo, psoriasis, shingles, herpes simplex and other diseases. Therefore, even if you don’t care about your appearance, you must maintain good and regular work and rest habits for your own health.

in conclusion

Dark circles can be roughly divided into four types: pigmentary, vascular, structural and mixed.

Staying up late can aggravate structural and vascular dark circles, but it is not the root cause of dark circles. Current treatments cannot completely and effectively remove dark circles, but they can alleviate and reduce symptoms to a certain extent. To deal with dark circles, you should develop good living habits and focus on prevention.

Author: Chen Xue, attending physician at Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University

Review | Tang Qin, Chief Researcher, Science Popularization Department, Chinese Medical Association

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