It’s a debate among believers and non-believers and something even scientists/experts/doctors are still looking into!
I’ll make it quick: I don’t like eye creams. I actually used to think I need it and imagine that there are issues around my eye area. When I did finally get myself a few eye creams, I would slather these creams around my eye area, even use them as eye primer (uh-oh!) before concealer and eyeshadow!
But around 2017, I realized that I wasted money and more detrimentally, I made my eyes feel worse.
I had used both low- to high-end types of eye creams and, from observation, they’re almost the same. Perhaps it’s because I was in my 20s at the time, and the minute changes around my eyes are so negligible, that eye creams feel like they don’t take effect. The changes are actually good-looking, making my eye areas feel smooth, a bit plump or brightened.
However, those effects, I’ve come to realize, have come from smoothening silicones or moisturizing ingredients that are temporary; the plumping effect would become a puffy-eyed result (or just puffy!) and it’s moisturizing effect would sometimes feel heavy and make me have tears, as if there’s too much going on the eye area. And what’s even more is that the brightened effect had come from a cosmetic-grade ingredient, Mica, which is usually found on shimmering makeup items; which meant th “brightening” effect I was experiencing was due to a few sparkling compounds mixed in!
These results always look true with the more expensive and the more “anti-aging” the eye cream was meant to be. I guess, I am truly not its age demographic, hehe…
Even now, nearing 30, I feel like I won’t be needing an eye cream even when I have reached the age where wrinkles are prominent. I’ll let myself age gracefully…and let the moisturizer and a good lifestyle do their magic, no need for eye creams!
That said, do eye creams work, though? It’s a debate among believers and non-believers and something even scientists/experts/doctors are still looking into!
According to one article from Healthline.com, “Do Eye Creams Work?”, an eye cream could work if it has the right ingredients that targets a specific concern, such as retinol to boost the turnover of the skin, i.e., the way skin renews itself. Despite having good ingredients, an eye cream isn’t a miracle potion.
“As we get older, our skin cells don’t reproduce as quickly,” Birchenough explains. “Retinol helps speed up the process.” – from the article “Do Eye Creams Work?”
However, the article does discuss how there are experts who see how eye creams aren’t the most effective way to diminish wrinkles, dark circles, eye bags or puffiness, and that these things appear from either/both hereditary or lifestyle issues.
Many dermatologists and beauty enthusiasts who don’t need eye creams just tout moisturizers as something that can already be effective for the eye area. However, one of the reasons eye areas are a target for having a different skin care product altogether is because the skin on the eye area is thinner and more fragile, has no means to moisturize itself because it lacks sebacious glands, and therefore are the first areas to get the signs of aging. Its thinner surface also causes for pigments underneath its layer to show up, such as dark circles, as our body reacts from a number of factors, such as stress.
In the article from the Well and Good lifestyle website, “Dematologists Bust the 7 Biggest Myths About Eye Creams Once And For All, moisturizers for the face are too different for the skin on the eye area, especially facial moisturizers/creams that would specialize on focusing a skin concern, which in turn would irritate or cause inflammation on the eye area, or the eye itself! That’s why the age-old rule of keeping away from the eye area is a preventive and safety measure!
Another issue is Milia, the blocked pores that cause tiny white bumps on the eye area!
“Milia is one of the major things that can happen when using facial moisturizers under the eye,” says Dennis Gross, MD, board-certified dermatologist and founder of Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare. “Certain ingredients that are great for the face are just too much for the eye area.” – from “Dermatologists Bust 7 Biggest Myths…”
Furthermore, those who believe in the power of eye creams, provided that the right formulation is used and should target the concern/s of the user, clarify that eye creams are made and used specifically for the eye area to help treat its skin without causing irritations, etc. Plus, sunscreens can also be worn on the eye area, which, in my relief, is importantly valid! Whether chemical or mineral sunscreens, it doesn’t matter! Put a little on the eyelid, on the outer corners of the eye area and under, and you’re set!
Another person who swears by eye creams and eye exfoliators (yes, you read that!) is a world-renowned esthetician Dr. Rene Rouleau. She does iterate that eye creams are not miracle workers and that, if consumers really want something done regarding their wrinkling, puffiness or discolorations, invasive treatments are truly the way to go! However, in her article, “Do Eye Creams Really Work?”, she elaborates how preventive measures are the main reason to invest in a good eye cream and eye exfoliator (this one, from how she explains it, is a type of gentle chemical exfoliator that should be specifically formulated for the eye area so as not to cause unwanted sensations). And in her words, eye exfoliators are a way to help gently renew the skin on the eye area (ahem retinol!), much like serums or chemical exfoliating creams do on the facial skin.
And speaking of such serums or creams, it seems that, no matter which side of the debate you are, there is a common consensus if there is anything to swear by any good skin care product, and its these two ingredients: retinol (which I keep repeating, sorry!) and peptides. In SkorBeauty’s article, where even the writer herself is trying to see the arguments of both sides, she summarizes how retinols help in the renewal of the skin’s cells, which are highly important to aging skin, and peptides, which help in strengthening the layer of the skin. So if you want an eye cream to work for you, you’ll have to research for these ingredients!
But it seems, it’s looking okay to purchase yourself an eye cream, now that we’ve clarified how different eye creams are compared to moisturizers, and how there are specific ingredients that should target those eye area concerns…well, not so much, according to Dr. Rachel Ho. As the “beauty insiders’ best secret”, a Singapore-based aesthetician and surgeon, she elaborates on the anatomy of the skin around the eye area and further details that the comparisons and contrasts of facial and eye creams are very little!
The ingredients that have been spoken about to work well for specific concerns for the eye area, are also key ingredients for certain facial skin issues! In fact, eye creams can also cause Milia! She points out how its the way a skin care is formulated that could cause pore blockage, a.k.a. Milia, which could mean someone’s moisturizer, eye cream or serum, or, if used all at the same time, all of the above.The very big difference (or rather, little!) between facial and eye creams is the concentration/potency of these key ingredients needed to create a gradual difference and improvement!
What’s more, regarding the way products are presented to consumers, if you’ve noticed, most eye creams, serums, gels, etc. are also sold in smaller tubes or bottles? Besides the fact that the key ingredients in these eye creams are actually in less concentration than an issue-focused moisturizer, the price tag on these eye products are sold like moisturizers, or even more exorbitantly, despite the fact that the product itself is packaged smaller!
If that is the case, we’re buying too-expensive, small-packaged, less-concentrated dupes of a brand’s moisturizer! And it’s marketed as an “eye cream”!
Speaking of marketing, this is among the reasons as to why naysayers of the eye cream are highly skeptical! Because of the way brands have to market their products, they often target aesthetical issues and insecurities, such as ageing, and making that among the reasons why we should buy an expensive eye cream. And just so we’re clear, ageing itself is a blessed thing! People’s wrinkles and age are a sign that they’ve lived a long life full of experiences! It’s the most beautiful thing for a human being to go through that shows one’s contentment in life!
But okay, say we aren’t that old yet, but signs of it are creeping in because we weren’t able to take care of our skin, our health and our bodies, and we needed a practical view on whether certain skin care items are even necessary.
And I think that should be the right question: “are eye creams necessary?“, not, “do they even work”.
In another Well and Good article, “One Dermatologist Says Eye Creams Are Bogus (Yeah…You Read That Right!)
According to Dr. Shirley Chi (California-based MD), it’s not that they don’t work—but you can be using other things for the same (if not better) effect. It really comes down to marketing. “If you’re using a good facial moisturizer, an antioxidant serum, and sunscreen, they’re going to do the same thing as an eye cream—eye cream is just marketed differently,” she says. “They’re usually water-based and have glycerin or hyaluronic acid, which is the same as a moisturizer.” Not to mention that sometimes they cost even more.
From this standpoint, it’s beginning to make sense how much marketing is employed to get us excited to any type of product we supposedly think we need. This was my experience, when I was still quite new to skin care. Although I have amassed what I thought are necessary for my skin’s well-being, there were times that I found myself still breaking out, getting a bit of milia and have very little sunscreen. I had bought into the craze, versus actually looking into my skin, getting a dermatologist’s opinion (or at least, from opinions of dermatologists on online articles) on my skin’s issues and doing my due diligence, like researching.
Before I had realized what I had done, I had used a total of 4 different eye creams from different brands. They ranged from affordable to high-end (I think you can tell which one that is…) and realized a little late that I don’t always have any eye area issues, even to this day.
Just for reference, these were the ones I had experienced and will not be looking back. (The Too Cool For School one has long been forgotten and I can’t even find it/having difficulty identifying what it was…)
The Face Shop The Therapy – mini-review: has a lot of oils and emollients; would actually work as an actual anti-dry skin moisturizer, NOT as eye cream as it can get a bit heavy. And I actually did that. A good neck moisturizer (that’s a compliment!).
Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Eye Concentrate -mini-review: the HEAVIEST in duty and I believe has mica in it to make eye areas appear “brightened”; perhaps it never was supposed to grace a 20+ year old’s eye area, and may have worked well for older skin. If you did purchase it and felt that it’s too much for your eye area, use it as a moisturizer, too! After all, Estee Lauder’s prices are not laughing matter.
Miniso Almond Eye Moisturizing Cream – mini-review: the…safest bet. A good start for those who do have dryness under the eyes or want to experience an eye cream (actually, it’s more a gel-type). It’s lightweight, but still, for someone like mine that never needed hydration and moisture around the eyes, I actually hardly saw any difference when I used it.
Too Cool For School popular items, with this one, I am linking you to a site that can still sell their older lines, but from looking into it, they don’t have the eye gel I used to have. It came from this weird packaging, a pen-like packaging, where I have to press a button for the product to come out on its cooling metal roller ball. Mini-review: the roller ball was the best; the actual eye gel felt like it was actually moisturizer, and maybe it was, but they slightly tweaked the potency of it, probably, to make it pass as an eye cream. But it would be heavy on my eye area even when I needed it to hydrate the area.
After looking into my past experiences with eye creams, perhaps it’s because I didn’t research what I needed and just jumped into the bandwagon. Now that I have enough knowledge regarding the eye area anatomy and the big debate on whether an eye cream is necessary or not, what really boils down to it is how wisely we can use our money and time in looking into skin care that should work for us.
Looking at the middleground of the debates, I think we should have a good criteria on what we should deem necessary and justified when and if an item should be purchased:
- the efficacy of the products needed for the skin
- the cost of the item per how much product is packaged
In conclusion, an eye cream being necessitated is going to depend on one’s eye skin concerns/issues. There are ingredients that can target the issues, however, we have to realize that the potency of the item is likely in contrast to the hiked up price point of eye creams most of the time. It’s no miracle worker.
And if you’re like me where we have scared ourselves in thinking we have eye area issues and have jumped the bandwagon, only to waste money and actually experience no big changes whatsoever, you probably don’t need it!
If you are still unconvinced, it’s best to do your research which eye creams may work and talk to a dermatologist about your eye area and skin concerns. Perhaps they’ll recommend something that’s going to give you a long-term result, versus a product riddled with marketing ploys that target insecurities and is just a moisturizer anyway.
“It’s important to set expectations for what an under-eye cream can achieve, as there are instances where botox, lasers, fillers, radiofrequency devices, microneedling, PRP, or surgical procedures may be needed,” Dr. Garshick says. – from Byrdie article “Do You Actually Need Eye Cream? Derms Settle The Debate!”
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