Where do dark circles come from?

After a bad night, there’s a chance your eyes will show your lack of sleep. They're there, discreet but visible nonetheless, silent reflections of your insufficiently-charged batteries: dark circles. Spoiler alert, they can also be the sign of something other than tiredness.

Dark circles, which darken your eyes and make you look a "little under the weather this morning!" as per your colleagues, can appear for several reasons. These dark marks may be due to disrupted blood flow or lymphatic tissue. Indeed, if it isn’t working properly, the lymphatic system, which purifies body tissues and nourishes the epidermis (among other things), can allow pigments to gather in clumps on the edge of the skin around the eye. And since the skin under the lower eyelid is the thinnest on our body – 4 times thinner, to be precise – it shows oedemas and turns a dark colour more easily.

Except that dark circles are not necessarily due to a busy nightlife and poor sleeping habits. Depending on their colour – ranging from dark blue to brown – and their more or less hollow appearance, dark circles can have different causes. Among these causes: age (since fatty tissue slackens and becomes less effective as the skin ages), stress, an unhealthy lifestyle, hormones, or even hereditary factors. To find out the exact cause of your dark circles, we recommend talking to your doctor.