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A woman holding Kiehl's Powerful Vitamin C Eye Serum with drops of cream under her eyes.

SKINCARE

How To Minimize Noticeable Under-Eye Wrinkles

Under-eye wrinkles won’t go away in the blink of an eye. You need to understand what causes wrinkles around eyes and how to manage them with eye wrinkle cream.

All of your skin doesn’t age at the same rate. This means you can have full cheeks and a smooth forehead, while there are wrinkles around your eyes. The reason for this is that different areas have different biological structures. Some areas have more collagen, while others are thicker, and still, others have more oil glands. All of these factors play a role in how your skin develops visible signs of aging like wrinkles and fine lines. There’s one part of your face that ages much faster than the rest, and that’s your eye area.I

Under-eye wrinkles form at a much faster pace for a few reasons. That area has the thinnest skin, has very little fat, and fewer oil glands. Because of this, the orbital area (read: eyes) has less protection from the effects of environmental damage and chronological aging.I When these wrinkles first start to appear, the skin around the eyes dries out, and small lines and creases begin to show at the corners and beneath the eyes.

Fortunately, we have developed efficacious products to help minimize the look of wrinkles and fine lines in the eye area. With the right eye products, you can help address the appearance of existing fine lines and wrinkles and also protect against the signs of premature aging due to the likes of sun damage and environmental pollution. But first, you need to understand what is causing your eye wrinkles.

What Causes Wrinkles Around The Eyes?

We went over why wrinkles around eyes are more prominent versus those on other areas of your face, but you may not know why wrinkles form in the first place. The cause of wrinkles are often the same regardless of where they appear, but they can show up quicker or be more noticeable in certain spots, like your eye area.

1. You’re getting older

Everyone knows wrinkles are associated with aging. Over time, skin becomes drier, less elastic, and more fragile. This all contributes to the appearance of wrinkles. Research also shows crow’s feet are contributed to by the thinning of the epidermis and dermis (the top and middle layers of your skin) that happens with age.

2. You have an expressive face

Wrinkles may be a popular skincare complaint, but sometimes the cause isn’t something you want to (or can) give up. Wrinkles can be a sign that you’re living a life full of smiles, which we certainly don’t discourage. Studies indicate that your eye area is especially prone to wrinkles because of constant repetitive movements, such as squinting and laughing. Every time you use a facial muscle, whether to smile, squint, blink, or frown, a groove forms under the skin. With time, these grooves become permanent.

3. You spend too much time in the sun

There aren’t many skincare concerns that don’t list UV exposure as the cause, and under-eye wrinkles are certainly no exception. UV radiation speeds up the aging process and is a main cause of premature wrinkles. In fact, science shows that environmental factors like sun exposure and pollution are the predominant cause of wrinkles around the eyes.

Can You Get Rid of Under-Eye Wrinkles?

How to get rid of under-eye wrinkles is a question we’ve heard from our customers more times than we can count, but there’s another question they should be asking: Can you get rid of under-eye wrinkles? The truth is, there’s no instant solution that makes eye wrinkles disappear. And we all get wrinkles eventually; it’s a natural part of aging. What you can do is reduce the appearance of the fine lines and wrinkles around your eyes by using the right products and taking skin protection measures.

Ahead, find four Kiehl’s products that are perfect for helping visibly minimize wrinkles around eyes, including three of our favorite eye creams for wrinkles.

Powerful-Strength Dark Circle Reducing Vitamin C Eye Cream

Powerful-Strength Dark Circle Reducing Vitamin C Eye Serum offers (as the name suggests) powerful benefits against visible fine lines and dark circles. This supercharged eye wrinkle cream is formulated with 10 percent pure vitamin C and a fast-absorbing form of hyaluronic acid to create a product that’s clinically demonstrated to noticeably decrease the appearance of crow’s feet and wrinkles. It also helps brighten and minimize the look of dark circles to give your gaze a more alert, radiant appearance.

Midnight Recovery Eye

Your skin hits the reset button when you sleep, which is when Midnight Recovery Eye, a customer favorite, does its best work. The nighttime eye cream features a blend of squalane, butcher’s broom extract, essential oils (lavender, evening primrose, geranium, rosemary leaf, and rose), and a trio of moisturizing seed oils. It works with your skin’s natural recovery and repair system overnight to reveal fresher, younger-looking eyes by morning.

Super Multi-Corrective Eye Zone Treatment

As discussed above, there are different factors that contribute to making eyes look older and less vibrant, and that’s where our Super Multi-Corrective Eye Zone Treatment comes in. The eye cream visibly lifts, smooths, de-puffs and brightens the eye area to correct visible signs of aging in all four eye zones (brow bone, eyelid, crow's feet and under-eye). The formula is a lightweight and non-greasy gel which can be easily applied under makeup and absorbs into the skin quickly!

Line-Minimizing Targeted Triangle Patch-Masks

Masking is one of the most fun—not to mention, effective—skincare steps, and there’s no reason your eyes should miss out on that. Instead of smoothing on a creamy or clay formula, try a patch-mask. Line-Minimizing Targeted Triangle Patch-Masks can be used as an under-eye wrinkle treatment to instantly (yes, really) reduce the appearance of fine lines for smoother-looking skin. Press one of the patches onto the skin around your eyes, then let it sit for 30 minutes to take effect.

How To Help Prevent Premature Eye Wrinkles

While avoiding wrinkles altogether may not be feasible—again, we all get them eventually—you can take steps to help prevent premature wrinkles from forming. One of the best things you can do is protect your skin from the sun. When it comes to keeping under-eye wrinkles at bay, this means remembering to use sunscreen around your eyes and wearing sunglasses that protect against UV rays.

Kiehl's Expert Tip: Yes, it’s safe to use sunscreen near your eyes. The key is to use formulas that won’t migrate into your eyes. Mineral sunscreens for the face that are designed for sensitive skin are a great option. You should take this precaution every day, just as you should use SPF daily all over your face and reapply.

It’s also a must to keep the skin moisturized. Moisturizing traps water on your skin, and this makes fine lines and wrinkles less noticeable. Don’t wait for wrinkles to show up to start using eye cream; make sure one of the formulas above is already working to nourish the skin around your eyes every day.

You see, just because your eye area is more susceptible to the signs of skin aging doesn’t mean you have to resign yourself to skin that appears dull and fatigued. Incorporate one of our targeted eye treatments for visible wrinkles into your daytime and nighttime routine and take the right preventive measures, and you’ll see your eye area looks vibrant and refreshed, not tired and dull.

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