Many of us who have pulled an all-nighter will experience dark circles under the eyes or worse, dark circles and bags under eyes. There are many causes of dark circles under eyes, but the main culprit is the lack of sleep. The list of dark circle factors are long, and among them are: sleep deficiency, heredity, localized bruising, sinusitis, old-age, vitamin K deficiency, fatigue, allergies and many more.

The skin under the eyes is extremely thin and especially sensitive. Also, its thinness makes it rather translucent. If you look closely in the mirror, you might be able to make out a faint network of very fine blood capillaries. The problem starts when the blood in these capillaries surrounding the eye leaks out.

Normally, our body has a back-up mechanism of special enzymes to break down these escaped blood cells, including its hemoglobin pigments. However, when hemoglobin is broken down into its components, it is bluish in colour. This thus gives the appearance of blue skin when dark circles form.

Basically, dark circles, raccoon eyes, blue luggage or whatever you want to call them; they are formed when hemoglobin is oxidized. What makes these pesky dark under-eye circles so conspicuous and obvious? Well, as mentioned earlier, the skin around your eyes are very thin, causing it to be more translucent than other areas. This translucency enables the oxidized hemoglobin from the blood vessels to be visible.

There are genetic factors to take into account too, such as skin fairness, deep-set eyes, facial structure and et cetera. Now that you know what causes dark circles under eyes, you can take certain steps to remedy as well as prevent them!