How to deal with puffy eyes

Puffy eyes can make you look old and worn out. Combat the problem with our expert advice

Swollen eyes might just be a reminder of last night's drinks with the girls (along with that thumping head) but they're guaranteed to make you look tired and older. And the older you get, the longer they seem to take to deflate. Baggy, puffy eyes can be chronic, which means fat pads in the eye area are pushing through the muscle, or they can be occasional, caused by a number of things, including excess alcohol, that cause inflammation.

What's the cause?

If your bags are caused by increased fat protrusion, this is often a genetic predisposition and no eye cream is really going to make much difference. If you can't live with it, cosmetic surgery is the only option. The good news is that eyelid surgery techniques are now so advanced that it's possible to have work done with little scarring and also sometimes under a local 'twilight' anaesthetic, rather than a general. For further information, look at the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons' website, www.baaps.org.uk. It's worth knowing that thyroid disease can also cause changes in the eye area.

Most intermittent puffiness is caused by things such as allergies, which an anti-histamine should help with, water retention and lack of sleep. Morning puffiness can also be the result of poor circulation – a lack of eye movement overnight and sleeping horizontally. Elevating your head on two or three pillows when you sleep could help, as can putting your head between your legs in a seated position for a minute on waking - the pressure can kick-start drainage. Tapping your fingers lightly back and forth from the inner corner to the outer corner of your eyes gets things moving too. Even better, do some exercise (just running up and down the stairs a couple of times counts) which will benefit your body as well as your eyes.

Cold comfort

Another trick to getting your circulation going and stimulating drainage is to use something cold in the eye area. Some beauty experts swear by either splashing the face with iced water or stroking ice cubes gently around the eye contours. You could also try chilling a couple of spoons in the freezer and putting them over your eyes for a couple of minutes. Alternatively, just keeping your eye gel in the fridge means it will pack an extra de-puffing punch.Overloading eye cream can actually exacerbate the puffiness you're trying to combat

Dream creams

Used topically, caffeine works as a diuretic and so helps to stimulate fluid drainage around the eye. It's included in many eye creams including Clarins high performing Advanced Extra-Firming Eye Contour Serum, £32, in which it's combined with agrimony flower extract. Buckwheat is another interesting ingredient, containing phytosterols said to inhibit fat production. It also works on water retention.

Buckwheat oil is one of the ingredients in Phytomer's new Expertise Age Contour, £32, aimed at 40 plus women. Other worthwhile ingredients to look out for include anti-inflammatory green, tea, chamomile and cucumber.

The trouble with puffiness is that over time it also stretches the skin, making it lose its bounce-back elasticity and leading to lines. For this reason it's worth choosing an eye product that also has collagen-boosting and firming/plumping ingredients (hyaluronic acid, retinol, yeast extract for example).

Very effective is L'Oreal's Revitalift Double Lifting Eye, £13.99, (stockist www.superdrug.com) which both smoothes lines and tautens the upper eyelid. Whatever you choose, use your product sparingly and not right into the lashes – not only will this stop cream getting in your eyes, but, overloading eye cream can actually exacerbate the puffiness you're trying to combat.

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