Bags under the eyes: where they come from and what reduces them

Where do bags under the eyes come from?

Bags under the eyes form when the tissues that support the eye weaken and allow fluid, or fat, to build up under the lower eyelid. The American Academy of Ophthalmology sums it up simply: over time, the tissues around the eye relax, the fat that normally protects the eyeball moves forward towards the lower eyelid, and fluid builds up in these weakened tissues^[1]. This is what gives that small bulge, more or less pronounced depending on the day and the person.

So three mechanisms combine. The first is water. During the night, lying down, the circulation of fluids slows and the very thin skin around the eye fills with water: this is the waking bag, which fades during the morning. The second is fat. Over the years, or from a young age in some families, the small fat pads beneath the eye move forward and form a permanent bulge. The third is the laxity of the skin itself, which loses its firmness and makes every volume more visible.

Heredity plays a big role: if your parents have bags, there is a good chance you will too, sometimes from the age of twenty^[1]. The rest depends a lot on lifestyle. Lack of sleep, a very salty dinner, alcohol, smoking, seasonal allergies or rubbing your eyes all encourage water retention under the eye. The good news: these are also levers you can act on.

Morning bags or established bags: how can you tell the difference?

To find out which type of bags you are dealing with, watch them over the course of the day. Bags that are pronounced when you wake up and clearly reduce by late morning are mainly made of water. They respond well to cold, massage and decongesting treatments. Bags that stay the same from morning to evening, and that you can see in photos from ten years ago, are more likely due to fat: no cream will make them disappear.

A small test helps you decide. Look at yourself in a mirror with your head straight, then raise your eyes towards the ceiling without moving your head. If the bulge clearly gets bigger when you look up, it is most often fat moving forward. If the bag stays soft, with slightly puffy, shiny skin, it is more likely water. In both cases, the skin covering the bag may be more or less lax, which accentuates the effect.

Don't confuse bags with dark circles either. Dark circles are a question of colour: a brown, bluish or purplish shadow under the eye, linked to skin pigment, to the skin's transparency or to the hollow that forms under the bag. Bags are a question of volume. The two often coexist, and overhead lighting deepens the shadow under a bulge, which makes the dark circle look more pronounced than it is.

When should bags under the eyes be a cause for concern?

Bags that appear gradually, on both sides, without pain or redness, are almost always benign. Some signs, however, warrant medical advice, because swollen eyelids can also signal a health problem. The MSD Manual lists among the warning signs fever, reduced vision, double vision or an eye that seems to bulge out of its socket: in these cases, see a doctor without delay, within the next few hours^[2].

Other situations call for an appointment with your doctor. Swelling of both eyelids combined with swollen ankles or feet can point to a kidney, heart or liver problem^[2]. A puffy face without pain, with great fatigue, can signal an underactive thyroid, which a simple blood test can check. A red, hot and painful eyelid suggests inflammation or infection. And a bag that appears on one side only, overnight, should always be shown to a doctor.

Allergies are the most common cause of swollen eyelids^[2]. They are often accompanied by itching, watery eyes and sneezing, and clear up with allergy treatment. In this case, the first reflex is not to rub: every rub keeps the inflammation going and weakens the skin around the eye.

Simple steps that really reduce bags under the eyes

For water bags, cold, sleep and a few evening habits are the most effective solutions, and they cost almost nothing. They are also the ones recommended by the American Academy of Ophthalmology: a clean cloth soaked in cool water placed for a few minutes on closed eyes, the head slightly raised during the night, less salt and fewer drinks just before bed, treating allergies, and not rubbing your eyelids^[1].

In the morning, you can turn these steps into a small ritual of a few minutes, to do before your make-up:

• Cool the eye area with a cold compress, or patches kept in the fridge, for five to fifteen minutes.
• Apply an eye contour treatment by patting with the tip of your ring finger, from the inner corner towards the temple.
• Drain with a light smoothing movement, always outwards and without pulling the skin, to help the fluid circulate.
• Finish with sun protection suited to the eye area, to limit skin laxity over the long term.

Patches have the advantage of combining cold with hydrating active ingredients, in the time it takes to drink a coffee. Our reusable Eye Therapy Patch are made from a matrix of plant oils, ceramides and shea butter. In our satisfaction test, 82 % of the 91 volunteers found their eye area decongested after fifteen minutes of application^[7].

As for skincare, caffeine is the most widely used ingredient against bags: it tones the skin and helps reduce puffiness. Eye Detox Gel, our eye contour gel created in 2005, combines it with adenosine, hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and Chromadetox, a brown algae extract. After seven days of use, 81 % of the 94 volunteers in our satisfaction test found their eyes visibly decongested^[6]. As with any skincare, this is a perception: a gel acts on water and on the skin, not on a fat bag.

LED and microcurrent: what can you expect against bags?

At-home beauty devices can help reduce morning bags and firm the eye area, but they don't remove a fat bag. Their value is in complementing the simple steps, with regular action, once or twice a day. Two technologies are most often combined in eye contour devices: LED light and microcurrent.

Microcurrent is a very weak, imperceptible electrical current that stimulates microcirculation and tones the skin. Its action on water bags is mainly immediate, a little like a draining massage. Published studies on aesthetic microcurrent remain rare and small in size, and each device has to be looked at case by case, checking what its manufacturer has measured, on how many people and for how long.

LED light, for its part, has mainly been studied on wrinkles. A Brazilian team followed 137 women and observed a reduction in the volume of wrinkles around the eye with red and orange light, applied in ten sessions over one month^[4]. This is in-depth action on the quality of the skin, which helps limit its laxity. To find out more about this colour, read our article on the benefits of the red LED mask.

We designed Time Control 7+ for the eye area, with a programme dedicated to dark circles and bags. It combines green light, microcurrents that stimulate microcirculation to help decongest, and microvibrations, designed for morning bags. In a clinical test carried out on 30 people, the volume of bags decreased by 6 % on average, and by up to 14.6 %, after a single one-minute use^[5]. The device is used once or twice a day, on its own or after your eye contour treatment.

A few precautions are essential with any eye contour device. Keep your eyes closed during the session, don't use it on irritated, damaged or infected skin, and ask your doctor's advice if you are pregnant, taking a treatment that makes your skin sensitive to light, or have a pacemaker or any electronic implant. If you are unsure about the origin of your bags, a dermatologist will be able to advise you.

And when the bags are established?

When bags are made of fat and are permanently present, only aesthetic medicine or surgery can reduce them lastingly. Skincare, morning steps and devices improve the quality of the skin and reduce the water component, but they don't move fat. This is important to know so you don't keep buying products while waiting for a result that won't come.

Lower eyelid surgery, called blepharoplasty, makes it possible to remove or reposition the fat that forms the bag, and sometimes a little skin^[3]. It is discussed with a plastic surgeon or a specialist ophthalmologist, after an examination that pinpoints the exact origin of the bulge. Other techniques, such as filling the hollow beneath the bag, also exist: all of them are a matter for a doctor.

The eye area forms a whole. An upper eyelid that loses firmness makes the eyes look as heavy as a bag does, and the two are often treated together, with the same gentle steps and the same regularity. We have devoted an entire article to hooded eyelids and their non-surgical solutions, and you will find all our eye care in the Eye care collection.