Per my friend’s request, this week I will show you how to get rid of under eye bags using two different approaches: toning and draining.
Toning
One possibility of sagging under eye is lack of muscle tone. The muscles around the eyes are called orbicularis and they are circular. They close the eyelids and drain tears. Under the muscle layer below the eye there is a fat pad which can slip down. If the muscles are weak, the slipped fat pad can bulge out. So we will tone the muscles.
First gently press under the eye socket with two fingers to see if there is any tight spot. If you feel a tight spot, gently shake up and down and side ways. Tight hard muscles can weigh down. You are not rubbing over the skin. Under eye is very thin and sensitive so you do not want to stretch the skin or bruise by pressing too hard. Go all the way around the eyes along the eye socket. You are also pressing acupressure points and you will have clearer vision after this.
Next, use the side of the index finger to gently roll up around the eye socket. Pray and tell the fat pad to go back up in place. Please go back in there.
After loosening, let’s train and strengthen the muscles. Squint your eye by raising the lower eyelid and hold for a count of 5. Repeat 10 times. In the beginning, you may be using the forehead and/or upper eyelid to squint. So hold the forehead and upper eye lid to make sure you are not using them to squint. Also, you may be using your cheek to squint. Hold the cheek to make sure you are not using it. The advanced under eyelid lifters can hold the under eye gently to train some more.
Draining
If the puffiness is from fluid retention, do a lymph drainage. Hold the ear lobes and circle 10 times. With live long and prosper hands, caress down from the ear down the neck to the collarbone or clavicle 3 times. No pressure needed. Just caress down over the skin very lightly.
Lightly press the skin under the eye with fingertips from inner to outer corner 3 times. This time you are not pressing the muscles. Just the skin. Tap with fingertips 3 times. Gently caress outward 3 times. Circle in front of the ears 10 times. Again, live long and prosper down the neck 3 times.
Another massage that helps is to raise the cheek which I happened to do just that last week. Sagging cheeks can cause chain reaction sagging. When you lift the cheeks, there’s less chance of that chain reaction. I’ll put the link below and in the corner.
Other remedies you can try at home:
Put cold used green teabags or black teabags or coffee grounds for 10-15 minutes. The caffeine in the teabags and coffee grounds are anti-inflammatory and they help reduce the swelling and puffiness. If you use coffee grounds, it can get very messy so put it in a tissue. Or put cucumber slices on your eyes unless you are allergic to raw cucumbers like me. Cucumber is also anti-inflammatory and it helps to reduce puffiness. You can go for the typical spa look. Or press cold spoons under the eyes. By holding or gently rolling outward.
Or you can dab Preparation H. I don’t have it but people swear it works. It helps to constricts the blood vessels under the area you apply to reduce puffiness, not just hemorrhoids. If you do use Preparation H, please be careful not to put it inside your eyes.
If the under eye bag is caused by a lack of sleep, sleep some more. If it’s caused by too much salt intake, cut down on the salt intake. If it’s caused by too much alcohol intake, cut down on the alcohol intake. If the puffiness is caused by fluid retention in general, drink lots of water to get rid of water and toxins. I know it sounds counterintuitive but your body is holding onto the water because you are dehydrated so drink lots of water to release the water.
Thanks for watching. I’ll see you back next week. Make it a great week. Feel free to comment below. And please don’t forget to subscribe. Click on the bell so you will be notified when my video is up and out.
Massage Monday #502 Under Eye Bag http://bit.ly/mm-502