Puffy Eyes: The Causes & Best Tips

Oh no! What’s that again? Looking in the mirror in the morning and realizing that your eyes are swollen puts you in a bad mood. But puffy eyes don’t come from somewhere. They have their causes and the cosmetics industry knows the problem and offers solutions.

Here we show you the best creams for puffy eyes from popular brands, explain how puffiness occurs in the first place and what else is important when it comes to eye care.

Best eye creams for puffiness

Kiehl’s Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado

Kiehl’s Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado is a creamy, nourishing eye cream that moisturizes and plumps the eye region. It includes avocado oil, shea butter, and beta-carotene, which nourish, soften, and protect your skin. It also has a creamy texture that absorbs into the skin and creates a silky foundation for makeup.

La Roche-Posay Toleriane

La Roche-Posay Toleriane Ultra Eye treatment is a calming gel treatment that can help relieve puffiness and discomfort. It includes neurosensine, niacinamide, and thermal spring water, which helps reduce inflammation, redness, and itching. It also boasts a simple formulation that is devoid of parabens, scent, alcohol, and preservatives.

Origins Ginzing Refreshing Eye Cream

Origins GinZing Refreshing Eye Cream is a revitalizing solution crafted to invigorate and rejuvenate the delicate eye contour. Infused with coffee, ginseng, and magnolia extract, this cream boosts circulation, diminishes puffiness, and promotes a luminous complexion.

Its lightweight texture, coupled with a pearlescent formula, imparts a natural radiance by reflecting light, leaving your eyes refreshed and vibrant.

U Beauty The Return Eye Concentrate

While it may be expensive, we believe this eye therapy is well worth the investment. Its unique blend and components address all of your under-eye issues, including puffiness.

Marine plankton extract brightens and tightens the skin, while pure beta glucan, a form of hyaluronic acid, provides deep moisturization. Additionally, diamond powder adds a subtle and radiant glow to the complexion.

Medik8 Crystal Retinal Ceramide Eye

Retinol is the gold standard for smoother skin because of its ability to increase collagen formation. This solution contains encapsulated retinaldehyde (which releases slowly to avoid irritation), nourishing ceramides, hyaluronic acid, and anti-inflammatory chamomile extract—all of which dramatically lift, smooth, and de-puff eye contours.

Yon-Ka Phyto-Contour Eye Cream

Rosemary oil stimulates circulation, which aids in de-puffing, whilst citric acid gradually brightens dark circles.

Olay Vitamin C + Peptide 24 Eye Cream

Olay Vitamin C + Peptide 24 Eye Cream offers hydration and smoothing benefits to reduce puffiness and dark circles. Infused with vitamin C, niacinamide, and pro-vitamin B5, it works to brighten, even out, and firm the delicate skin around the eyes. Its silky texture effortlessly glides onto the skin, providing a smooth base for makeup application.

The most important facts in brief

Puffiness under the eyes is caused by water retention in the blood vessels.

The right eye care can reduce puffiness and even counteract it in the long term.

To prevent the development of puffiness, wrinkles and circles, the right care should be started early enough.

Causes of puffy eyes

Sleeping position: If you sleep very flat with a thin pillow or even completely without a pillow, you run the risk of fluid collecting in the skin around the eye area. It is therefore recommended that you sleep in a slightly elevated position with your neck supported.

Diet: A very salty diet in particular can lead to water retention. However, the consumption of alcohol also favors the accumulation in the eye area. However, if you drink plenty of water and consume antioxidants in the form of fruit and vegetables every day, fluid can be removed more easily.

Allergies: Allergies can trigger eye swelling. Be it through contact with your fingers or a non-contact reaction. If this is the case, you should seek medical advice and use anti-allergic eye drops, for example.

Ingredients: Irritating and/or irritating ingredients such as alcohol, fragrances or menthol can also lead to puffiness around the eyes. Therefore, make sure that both your skincare products and your make-up contain non-irritating ingredients.

UV radiation: It cannot be said often enough: UV radiation is our skin’s biggest enemy. Not only does it lead to sunburn, skin ageing and skin diseases, it also causes the unprotected eye area to swell.

In short, puffiness under the eyes is an accumulation of fluid in the lymphatic and blood vessels, which can be promoted by various environmental influences. The body tries to buffer germs and harmful substances by storing them.

How to Get Rid of Puffy Eyes

Cooling: If the eye area is swollen, cold is particularly effective. You will certainly be familiar with this from injuries. To cool the area around your eyes, you can either use an ice cube or buy a special cooling eye mask that you can keep in the fridge.

Apply cream daily: The skin around our eyes is particularly demanding and needs attention. That’s why daily moisturizing of the eye area is a must. In this way, you can prevent wrinkles, bags under the eyes, dark circles and puffiness. It is best to use a special eye cream for this. You can also find our favorites in this article.

UV protection: You know how harmful UV radiation and the sun are to our skin in general. Now imagine how much the thin, delicate skin around the eyes has to fight against the radiation. So never forget your daily sun protection factor and remember to wear sunglasses.

Water: Beauty gurus, skincare fans and beauticians preach it again and again and we are happy to join them: remember to drink enough water every day. This supports (among other things) a healthy lymph flow and the removal of harmful substances from the body. This is another way to reduce and prevent swelling.

Massage: As swelling can be caused by water retention in the lymph vessels, regular, gentle massages are recommended. You can do this with your finger, with a jade roller or rose quartz roller or with a Gua Sha.

Home remedies for puffy eyes

So now there are great creams and many different treatment options for puffiness around the eyes. But are there also home remedies that are recommended in the fight against annoying puffiness? Yes, there are. Apart from the ice cubes mentioned above, you can also use tea and coffee.

Black tea, green tea and coffee contain a lot of tannins and caffeine, which promote the metabolism of the lymph glands and have a decongestant effect. Simply soak two tea bags or two coffee pods in hot water, place them briefly in the fridge and then on your eyes. A real treat. Of course, you can also simply make yourself a cup of coffee or tea and use the bags or pads.

FAQ

Do I need to see a doctor if I have puffy eyes?

If your eyes are slightly swollen in the morning and calm down again after a short time, then it is not necessary to go to the doctor at first. However, if the symptoms occur daily and are accompanied by pain, tearing and/or redness, you should definitely seek medical advice.

What helps with swollen eyes after crying?

When we cry, sometimes so many tears are produced that the body is unable to drain them directly, causing them to accumulate and swell under the eyes. The tea bags mentioned above can help immediately. Place them on your eyes and try to relax for a few minutes.

Is good eye cream expensive?

With so much choice and so many opinions, it is often difficult to decide which products are really good and which are just a money-making exercise. There are also good eye creams for little money. However, our tip is: Invest in a high-quality eye cream and serum and save money when choosing your day cream.

When should I start using eye cream?

It is said that from the age of 25, the skin begins to break down hyaluronic acid and collagen and the first wrinkles appear. With the right and regular care, you can counteract skin ageing and give your skin back what it has lost.

Further tips for eye care

The eyes are the mirror of the soul. So it’s absolutely understandable that we all want an alert and radiant look. To keep wrinkles and shadows at bay as well as puffiness, here are a few great additional tips:

• Eye pads: Use eye pads once or twice a week. They are sheet masks for the eyes and have a soothing, calming and moisturizing effect, especially when fresh from the fridge.
• Apply correctly: Applying eye cream is all well and good, but applying it carelessly can still lead to wrinkles. Avoid smudging and dab your eye cream in gently. Preferably with your ring finger. This is our weakest finger.
• Do not rub: We unconsciously rub our eyes several times a day and wear out the skin around our eyes. So be careful not to rub your eyes and be careful when applying creams and make-up.
• Adapt to your age: Always adapt your eye care to your age. At a young age, your eye area does not need as much additional care as it does in your mid-50s, for example, so differentiate between light products and “rich” variants.

Conclusion

If your eyes are puffy, it is important to act quickly to make it easier for your body to remove water retention. You should therefore regularly cool and massage the area around your eyes and, above all, use an effective eye cream every day.

Eye creams that are specialized in reducing puffiness can help you to finally get rid of the annoying deposits in the long term and thus also prevent the skin around the eyes from wearing out.