Lymph Nodes Under the Eyes

Under each eye, we have small little lymph nodes.  When you perform the five eye exercises in the CFF™  program, you stimulate these lymph nodes which in turn, flush out any toxins or old, damaged cells that may be lurking in this area. This condition is usually the main cause not only for fluid retention, but for dark circles, as well. Ten times more oxygen is brought to a contracting muscle. Therefore, exercising the eyes also improves the over-all health of the eyes and the surrounding skin, as well.

Whisk Away Dark Circles and Bags

With the CFF™ facial exercises, you actually whisk away the old damaged cells, leaving the area under your eyes not only free of dark circles but less puffy, too. Since the muscle is attached directly into the skin on the face, the skin tightens up as the muscle tones and retains its youthful shape, making the skin under the eye - around the whole eye area - smoother, tighter and firmer.  The parchment-like skin under the eye smoothes out. It appears to become thicker looking, as well.

Use Creams Only Formulated for Around the Eyes

In fact, the area around the eyes does not have oil glands the way the rest of the face does, so it's very important to use a cream that is specifically made for that part of the face. You may find you are retaining fluid, especially noticeable under the eyes, if you use regular facial cream, instead of eye cream that is precisely formulated for this area.  By the way, CFFormulas™ Moisturizer Plus was originally formulated as an eye cream.  It is just so wonderful, we offer it for the entire face, as well.

A note from Dr. Richard Tew, M.D.:

Dark Circles and Lymphatic Congestion:

Dark circles under the eyes (around the eyes) to me mean one thing: lymphatic congestion. Not breaking capillaries (which can occur on the face and cause a reddening or even "spider vein" appearance). Alcoholics get capillary problems, as do certain people who lack vitamin B6 (cheeks get shiny too); certain women with autoimmune problems develop something that looks like this also. And there's also rosacea, a skin condition affecting the nose, forehead, cheeks mostly close to nose, and the chin with redness (capillary congestion) and pseudo-acne.

But none of these are "dark circles".

Some pediatricians talk of "allergy shiners", ie, what looks like "black eyes" (what the eye looks like after it's been hit). These also are symptomatic of lymphatic congestion. They occur in adults too.

How does lymphatic congestion occur?

Now anything that relieves this congestion is going to lessen the dark circles under the eyes. That certainly would include facial exercises. But it also includes removal of the allergen stimulus that provokes the congestion. So it seems (overly) optimistic to believe facial exercise will be enough to remove dark circles in most people because the congestion reaction is not appreciably affected by facial exercise. What facial exercise does is massage the lymphatics, ie, squeeze them via the various maneuvers of the face, and this will help move fluid from these congested lymphatics despite the obstruction caused by the nasal congestion, It kind of pushes the fluids out despite the hindrance of swollen mucosa and nodes. This is good as far as it goes, but one usually needs to address the cause of the congestion before the "dark circles" and puffiness will fade away.

Incidentally, this lymphatic fluid usually moves due to facial movement and gravity. Astronauts characteristically get puffy faces (often changes their appearance on camera) while in orbit. Why? No gravity, of course.

Because the skin under the eyes is so delicate, one has to avoid any direct massage of that area, lest the skin itself suffer trauma.

So to the woman who wishes to fix her dark circles, it seems she might well want to figure out what is going on with her facial circulation and nasal congestion reaction, and deal with that. Then her facial work (exercises) will more effectively hasten resolution of the dark circles.

Salt Can Contribute to Puffiness