Vitamin k and Retinol, the best Combination to treat dark circles under eyes

Though dark circles under the eyes are as common among children as they are among adults, when they are visible under the eyes of middle-aged people, they tell a different story. These crescent-shaped dark patches under the eyes have pigmentation darker than the surrounding skin and are related to aging.

In such cases, the skin below the eyes is very thin and fragile and has very few oil glands than in any other body part. With age, this skin dries and gets wrinkles, giving the veins below the skin more prominence and creating a darker hue of the skin.

Just as every problem has a solution, so also do dark circles. In fact, dark circles have two solutions—one, Retinol and the other, Vitamin K. Both ingredients, when part of any cosmetic cream, lotion or serum, can take away those dark under-eye circles.

How Retinol helps remove dark circles: Retinol is a derivative of Vitamin A, an antioxidant that stimulates skin cell production and reproduction while also working to create a firmer skin and a younger looking appearance.

When with age, we lose the naturally abundant collagen in our systems, our skin sags and causes fine lines, dark circles and wrinkles. Eye creams with Retinol as an ingredient can help stimulate the skin to produce the necessary collagen and produce a glow that brings back young skin and a more youthful appearance.

Retinol works to get rid of dark circles by thickening the thin skin under the eyes and gently fading the darkness of this area. Retinol also performs the function of being an exfoliator by sloughing off the dead skin cells that lie on the skin surface. By doing this, new and plumper skin cells get a chance to come to the skin surface and breathe new life into your skin.

Retinol can also stimulate skin cell production, thereby eliminating the dark circles, fine lines, wrinkles and any sun damage to the skin and overall enhancing the skin texture and skin tone.

Though you can have Retinol as an oral supplement or even in the form of vegetables and herbs, yet to get the maximum benefits out of it for dark circles and other signs of skin aging such as fine lines and wrinkles, you should apply it topically as a lotion or under-eye cream. Retinol-based creams are meant to be applied at night only as any exposure to the sun exposes you to further sun damage.

Retinol is therefore known as the star ingredient of any anti-aging skin cream because it enhances and evens out skin tone, eliminates dark circles, fine lines, wrinkles and sun damage and marvelously reduces your skin age by a few precious years.

In fact, its effectiveness can be borne out by a study conducted to determine whether a gel containing Retinol and other components do, in fact, reduce under-eye circles and wrinkles of the lower eyelids among 57 Japanese adults. The gel was applied on to their under-eye area twice a day and lower eyelids for eight weeks. At the end of eight weeks, the study concluded with the findings that Retinol was fairly successful in getting rid of under-eye circles of the Japanese subjects and it also reduced their wrinkles significantly.

How Vitamin K helps remove dark circles: Another revolutionary ingredient that takes away dark circles is Vitamin K. Though its chief functions are to prevent blood clotting and to take care of the bones in seniors, its other amazing function is to take away dark circles. It does this in this way: When the fatty area under the eye thins with age, the eyes take on a sunken expression. Due to the slow movement of the blood, dark circles may make their appearance, which Vitamin K successfully gets rid of.

In a study published in Cosmetic and Toiletries, two groups of subjects were taken. One group was asked to apply sunscreen in the under-eye area while the other was asked to use a gel which combined the goodness of Retinol and Vitamin K.

At the start of the study, the darkness of the subjects’ dark circles were noted and at the end of the experiment, again they were noted. A definite color lightening in the dark circles at the end of the experiment was noted in the group that used both Retinol and Vitamin K, thus proving Vitamin K’s effectiveness to take away dark circles, whether caused by genes, sleeplessness or any other reason.

Those whose dark circles are embarrassingly obvious should consider negating them by using topical creams that contain Vitamin K rather than use cosmetic concealers that don’t do the job well enough.