I have never had a problem with dark circles under my eyes until recently. The last week or two my students have pointed out (in such a nice middle school way) that I look like I have two black eyes. Anyone else ever have this happen?

I feel like I am sleeping enough. I am a little stressed with my brother's wedding coming up and moving out of state in June- but nothing major. Can this have anything to do with a vitamin deficiency or anything? I take a diabetes vitamin pack every night and a calcium pill.

Just hoping someone has a suggestion. Would love to gt rid of these circles before I look like a raccoon in my brother's wedding photos

Thanks!!!!

Of course you'll need to talk with your doctor for a accurate diagnosis but my son had the same problem for awhile. Come to find out he had a gluten intolerance and once we took wheat (and other gluten items) out of his diet, the dark circles went away. From what his doctor told us, there are several food allergies that can cause this. Have you started a new food that you normally didn't used to eat (or much/often?)?

Are you sleeping any differently? Drinking enough water? Besides the aforementioned food allergy, it could be as simple as sleeping with your head slightly propped. The dark circles (and sometimes bags) can happen from fluid not draining while sleeping so sleeping with your head propped up a bit more can help. If you have any seasonal allergies that may be sprouting due to weather changes, that's also a biggie!

My boyfriend had this, they found he had an adult-onset lactose intolerance. He still drinks and eats everything with lactose against doctors orders, so I still have to look at it...

Did he have any gastrointestinal symptoms too, or just the dark undereye circles?

For me, it's usually a slight lack of iron in my diet. It makes my skin a little more transparent.

I put on more makeup & eat more protein for a few days.

Thanks for the replies. I will have to look into the food allergy thing. I have been having more dairy than I am used to. I have also been lower on my water intake the last week or so.

Thanks Again!

My son gets dark circles under his eyes when he gets ANY dairy into his diet. They are called "allergic shiners" and a common symptom of an allergy/intolerance. It will seriously look like he got punched in both eyes.

ETA he also has severe gastrointestinal symptoms. Severe constipation that will turn into an impaction if he doesn't get heavy doses of a laxative, very bad stomach ache, pain in his muscles......

He definitely has the GI symptoms... *sigh* Not extreme, but noisy...

Also can it be herreditary? My mother has dark circles under her eyes, which she got from her mother, and now I started having them too. Apparently people with "natural" dark circles have a lighter skin density around the eye-area which gets lighters with the years causing the dark circles to become more and more visible as years passes by.

My mum struggles with her dark circles all her adult life, something I fear awaits for me too.

I know this sounds like an old wive's tale but I swear by the power of blueberries. I feel when they are regularly in my diet that my dark circles vanish. They're good for other stuff too but I'm willing to bet dark circles has something to do with antioxidants.

Anemia can also cause them, usually (as another post mentioned) iron-deficiency anemia. I get 'em too, usually when I'm feeling fatigued (regardless of how much I've slept) or around the end of my TOM, when my iron levels are depleted (I have pretty heavy TOM). It's annoying, but a little concealer helps.

What I found doesn't help me was using cold tea bags on my eyes -- they ended up dark AND puffy instead of just dark!

Wow! So many different reasons I had never even thought of before. The circles under my eyes are not really dark but are somewhat noticeable. They seem to lighten as the day goes on (only my 1st period seemed to notice).

I will try limiting my dairy intake and definitely try to get more blueberries in. See if that helps. I am also thinking that they may just go away on their own in two weeks (spring break!!! ) Told my students they need to stop being so exhausting so their teacher would look better

Thanks Again!

cucumber slices..cold ones..

pat a good concealer on using your ring finger..pat--don't rub until it blends..

I have also been seeing ads for the Hyelexin.

If it is hereditary, you can't do anything about it (I know, I've tried all my adult life!). But it sounds like it's a new thing, so I'm guessing it's not hereditary. I have them, but I've had them for as long as I can remember, and my grandmother has them (I resemble her quite a bit).