Bags Under Your Eyes

It might seem that bags under your eyes are an indication that something is not quite right. I once worked with a delightful and lovely young woman—about twenty-three years old I think she was, who had perfect body, beautiful, shining hair, straight and clean white teeth, and flawless skin…save that she had layers of bags under the eyes, which made onlookers think she was either fatally ill, had a big time sleep deprivation problem, or had a terrible drug or alcohol problem.

But she was genetically predisposed to this cruel feature, one to which no remedy applied would alleviate or remove. Many of us, that is, would consider this a cruel hand of fate having been dealt us. One’s physical appearance is economically driven (the best-looking people have the most success in the business world, according to some statistic or other). One’s physical appearance is a major contributor to the biological imperative (eyes spaced just so far apart, lips flush, hips of perfect child-bearing proportions and capacities, according to anthropologist Desmond Morris and others, are signs of symmetry and quality of species…which potential mates unconsciously measure). And, of course, physical appeal—youth and beauty at the top of the list of desirable traits—is brainwashed as the be all and end all for this our consuming culture.

But technically, bags under your eyes indicates that you have fluid collecting in the loose skin or a filling of the fat deposits in that area (creating shadows), says one health professional at TeenHealthFX. And causally, you have bags under your eyes (or dark circles under your eyes), as nine out of 10 people do at one time or another in their lives (according to azcentral.com), because of numerous possible (and combined) sources:

--Vitamin-deficiency
--Poor diet
--Overexposure to sunlight
--Overuse (number one culprit: long-term pc monitor-reading)
--Sleep deprivation
--Allergies
--Genetics/heredity
--Cigarette-smoking
--Disease or illness (or organ damage)
--Natural aging
--Stress