For Your Eyes Only - Prevent, Correct and Renew

The eye area has the thinnest skin on the body and there are no oil glands. It’s also an area of expression and is usually the first area of the face to start to show the signs of age and sun damage.  It’s far easier to prevent than correct but luckily there are amazing doctors and researchers that have created effective topical treatments that actually reverse some of the signs of aging. Prevention though is key so the earlier you start on a good eye cream the better.

There are many things we can do to protect our vulnerable eye area.   When we wear the correct eye creams, remove our eye makeup gently and effectively at night, wear sunglasses and/or a hat when driving and/or in direct sunlight to prevent squinting and thus wrinkling the eye area.

How to Apply an Eye Cream - An eye cream should be applied to the upper and lower lid and a good eye cream without fragrance and artificial color can be applied all the way to the lash line.

Eye Cream: Essential part of a healthy skincare regimen

Depending on what your concerns are around your eye area you definitely will want to use an eye cream with unique and effective ingredients for what your specific concerns are.  Everyone can benefit from an eye cream – men and women-  and should start by age 20. It is equally important to wear an eye cream during the day as it is in the evening. During the daytime hours we want to hydrate and protect and while we sleep our body naturally rests and we want our ingredients to repair and correct. There is a plethora of eye creams available. So you may be wondering,  “What’s the best eye cream for my eyes?” Let’s look at some common concerns and ingredients that address them.

Issues that affect the skin around the eyes:

Dark Circles: Vitamin K – this amazing nutrient heals the tiny capillaries under the eyes, they can leak blood and it pools under our eyes.  Plastic surgeons have been prescribing vitamin k for years for their patients pre and post operatively. (helpful hint: if your eye cream isn’t yellow it doesn’t have adequate levels of vitamin k and wont help your dark circles!) One to try: Exuviance Brightening Bionic Eye Cream: it’s bright yellow and has no artificial colors….the yellow tone is vitamin K which has another added bonus of immediately brightening and dissipating that purplish dark hue that dark circles produce. Jan Marini, Skin Medica, Yon Ka and many other professional skincare lines also have excellent eye creams.

Puffiness:  Caffeine – this ingredient is a diuretic and removes excess fluid from the eye area. (helpful hint: apply the eye cream from the inner corner outward in small tapping motion with your ring finger- this will stimulate your skins own lymphatic system and help the caffeine be even more effective at removing fluid). There are also some relatively new patented ingredients called Actiflow and Eyeliss that target puffiness and I can tell you from my experience working with many women and men that these ingredients work well.  Rosemary Essential Oil is also effective. I also recommend refrigerating your eye creams if puffiness is a big concern.  Also, make sure you are drinking enough water since dehydration actually leads to fluid retention.

Easy to Make Eye Treatment pads for puffy eyes and dark circles

Pulverize 1 organic cucumber
Pulverize 1 handful of parsley
combine and wrap mixture in gauze and apply to eyes for 10 minutes
This mixture will keep in the fridge for about 4 days

Dryness/Crepeness: Grapeseed Extract, Shea butter, carrot seed oil, lipids, hylauronic acid (this amazing plant derived ingredient holds 1000x its weight and gives your skin instant hydration

Wrinkles/Lines:  Retinol Palmitate (Vitamin A), Maltobionic acid, Polyhydroxy acid, Lactobionic Acid, Vitamin C, Grapeseed extract

Sagging/Loss of Firmness:  Matrixyl 3000, Peptides - this amazing ingredient lifts and firms and you want to look for medically formulated creams with this ingredient since peptides need a certain percentage to actually work which you wont always find in drug store or mass produced creams

Prevention :  Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Algae Extract, Hylauronic acid

Antiflammatory: Chamomile, Ginseng, Calendula, Green tea extract, cucumber extract and many more.

Remove Eye Makeup Thoroughly but Gently!

A gentle cleansing Cream will not only remove your eye makeup gently and effectively but also has ingredients like polyhydroxy acids that will provide gentle exfoliation and gently remove the dead skin cells which will help promote healthy cell renewal in our eye area. It’s very clogging to the delicate eye area and can even by aging to sleep with your makeup on especially eye makeup since eye shadows, mascaras and even concealers can contain a lot of drying and irritating ingredients.  It’s been shown that inflammation can lead to aging and there’s even a new topic of study by the medical beauty industry called “Inflammaging”. Its best to remove your makeup to prevent inflammation and any irritation that can trigger redness, clogged pores and puffiness around your eyes.

Eye treatment pads

Cooling, soothing, hydrating and firming. These little pads are a favorite of Hollywood starlets and even some metrosexual  Hollywood hunks.  The Eye Treatment Pads from Exuviance have an amazing ingredient called Lactobionic acid which has been used for years by the medical world as one of the ingredients to preserve organs prior to organ transplant.  There are also many professional skincare lines that make eye treatment pads like GM Collin and also SK II has some with Pitera which are very hydrating. Of course since our skin is our bodies largest organ and an outer one at that – it takes a lot of abuse so what better way to treat our eye area than with an eye mask with this potent and special antioxidant. We apply masks all over our face except for our eyes so these pads are the perfect way to treat your eyes while you treat your face.  For extra calming benefits (especially if you suffer from seasonal allergies) keep the pads in the refrigerator and they will be even more cooling.  What’s wonderful about the eye treatment pads are that they can stay on your eye area up to 30 minutes and you will see instant results. The effects are immediate and the long-lasting results are cumulative as well. These pads can be used 1 to 2 times per week and will remove the morning puffiness and hydrate the skin.