Dark circles are one of the most common complaints we hear at Ness Aesthetics, and also one of the most misunderstood. Clients often assume more sleep or a good concealer is the only answer, when in reality, dark circles usually have a specific underlying cause that a targeted treatment plan can genuinely address.
What Causes Dark Circles?
Broadly, dark circles fall into a few categories: pigmentation, where the skin itself has excess melanin; vascular, where blood vessels are visible through very thin under-eye skin; structural, where hollowing or volume loss casts a shadow; or a combination of all three. Each of these needs a different approach, which is exactly why generic under-eye creams so often disappoint, they’re rarely formulated to address the specific cause behind your particular circles.
Genetics, allergies and simple anatomy also play a bigger role than most people realise. Some clients have naturally thinner under-eye skin or blood vessels that sit closer to the surface from a young age, meaning their circles were never really about tiredness at all, however much sleep they get. Others notice their circles worsen seasonally, particularly with hay fever or allergy flare-ups, since rubbing and inflammation around the eyes can both darken pigmentation and make blood vessels more prominent. Understanding which of these is driving what you see in the mirror is the first real step towards a treatment plan that works.
How We Treat Dark Circles
For vascular and pigmentation-related circles, our dedicated under-eye protocols work on improving skin quality and reducing visible discolouration directly. For circles caused by volume loss and shadowing, a very small, carefully placed amount of dermal filler can restore support under the eye, softening the hollow that’s casting the shadow in the first place, an entirely different mechanism to treating pigmentation or vessels directly.
This is an area where an accurate assessment matters more than almost anywhere else on the face, since treating the wrong cause, filling a purely pigmented circle for example, simply won’t produce the result you’re hoping for. Steph spends real time during under-eye consultations working out exactly what’s driving what you’re seeing before recommending a plan, often using good lighting and gentle skin stretching to distinguish between pigment, vessels and volume loss.
Why an Accurate Assessment Matters
Many clients find that combining under-eye treatment with broader skin quality work, such as polynucleotides, gives the most natural, rounded improvement, since under-eye skin is often thinner and more reactive than the rest of the face and benefits from that extra support.
It’s also worth mentioning that under-eye treatment tends to require a particularly gentle, conservative approach compared to almost anywhere else on the face, given how thin and delicate the skin is in this area. Overcorrection or the wrong product choice here can create its own visible problems, so this is not an area to treat with the same volume or technique you’d use elsewhere, and it’s one of the clearest examples of why experience and a careful, tailored assessment matter more than simply booking ‘filler’ or ‘a peel’ without understanding why it’s being recommended.
Book a Dark Circle Consultation
If dark circles have been bothering you for longer than concealer can reasonably fix, it’s worth finding out what’s actually causing them. Visit nessaesthetics.com to learn more about our dark circle treatment or to book a consultation with Steph.