Well, hello, hello, guys. You're listening to Beauty Bites with Dr. K. Secrets of a Plastic Surgeon, and it's time for a podcast.

And I don't know about you, but I am tired. I have dark circles under my eyes. I have not been sleeping enough. I'm working too hard.

And I thought it was a perfect opportunity for all of us to learn more about dark circles.

What causes them? Is it fatigue, insufficient sleep, or natural aging process?

So let's learn all about the causes, the treatments, and the insights about dark circles.

You definitely can be born with dark circles as a hereditary condition.

There can be issues in terms of what appears under the skin, how the skin itself looks, and how

the volume reflects light. So dark circles are a definite sign that makes you look tired, indicates fatigue and

insufficient sleep. You certainly look more tired when you're dehydrated and your nutritional quality

is poor. But remember, sometimes it can also be attributed to medical causes. Dark circles can be

caused by allergies. Sometimes the medical causes of dark allergies

must be addressed. So if you have nasal allergies, allergic rhinitis, polyps in your nose, asthma

tendency, thyroid issues, these are all things that can give you dark circles. Remember the sinuses

and the nose, they drain through veins that travel around the

nasal area. The infraorbital veins can sometimes be super congested and back up and plug up with

edema because of nasal sinus congestion. If you suffer from allergic rhinitis, you may get venous

pooling under the eyes. And these dark blue veins can show through the thin skin of the under eye

area as a bluish hue or discoloration that reflects tired darkness under the eyes. That is very common.

Remember, the under-eye skin is the thinnest skin of the body.

It does not have sufficient dermal thickness and support

to help camouflage some of those veins that travel under the eyes.

So I always look at patients who have allergies,

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