Waking up puffy and tired is usually a sign that you need more sleep. The best fix when you can’t hit snooze? Figuring out how to depuff your eyes, so you can at least look wide awake—even when you only clocked an hour or two of rest.
“Increased fluid accumulation from lack of sleep, unhealthy diet, age, and genetics play the biggest role in under eye puffiness,” says dermatologist Mona Gohara, M.D. No matter the culprit, we’re breaking down the best ways to treat this situation in seconds.
1. Use eye treatments with caffeine.
Caffeine isn’t just the miracle worker in your morning latte that helps you feel more awake; it’s also a helpful skincare ingredient that can help target puffy under eyes. “Caffeine is a vasoconstrictor, which means it constricts the blood vessels around the eyes to reduce fluid and discoloration,” says Dr. Gohara. Applying an eye treatment with topical caffeine like our Milk Makeup Cooling Water Stick can help reduce the appearance of puffiness, even when you’re still feeling sleepy.
2. Grab a jade roller.
“I love tools like jade rollers because they help lymphatic drainage without dragging your skin around,” says dermatologist Anna Guanche, M.D. Massaging your skin can help push fluid away from your under eye area, but you need to be gentle because the skin under your eyes is extremely delicate.
“A jade roller goes smoothly over your skin, so you don’t risk rubbing and pulling,” says Dr. Guanche. First, apply an eye cream to create a slippery surface, then carefully glide your roller from the inner corner of each eye out to the sides of your face, then downwards to drain any excess fluid away.
3. Reduce swelling with cold.
Applying anything cold to the skin under your eyes can help reduce puffiness by constricting your blood vessels so your skin looks tighter and more awake, says Dr. Gohara. (It’s why you’ll see plenty of influencers and models dunking their faces in bowls of ice water on TikTok.)
A quick trick is to put a spoon in the freezer overnight, then place the convex side under your eyes in the morning. Make sure to let it thaw slightly, so that you don’t irritate your skin with extreme cold. As an even easier method, our team loves keeping our Cooling Water Stick in the fridge for a refreshing application with added skincare benefits.
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4. Apply an under eye brightener.
When you’re dealing with swollen under eye bags, sometimes the easiest way to treat them is to conceal them. Opt for an under eye brightener with light-reflecting pigments like our Sunshine Under Eye Tint + Brighten to make your eyes look instantly more refreshed and less puffy. The light coverage formula is made with vitamin C and hyaluronic acid to minimize dark circles.
5. Increase hydration.
Your skin needs moisture to stay at its best, and your under eye area is no exception. “Keeping your skin hydrated helps to plump it up and minimize the appearance of dark circles,” says Dr. Gohara. Increasing the moisture levels of the skin around your eyes can help them look soothed and refreshed. Try it with ingredients like the hydrating hyaluronic acid in our Sunshine Under Eye Tint + Brighten.
6. Get your beauty sleep.
No matter how many skincare tricks you use, it’s still important to avoid accumulating too much sleep debt. You can minimize the puffy under eyes you get after one restless night, but it won’t go away entirely unless you start getting your recommended eight hours. So the next time you wake up with swollen under eye bags, caffeinate, chill your skincare, and maybe sneak in a power nap, too.
Meet the Experts:
Mona Gohara, M.D. (she/her) is a dermatologist in Connecticut. After graduating from medical school with AOA honors, she did her dermatology training at Yale New Haven Hospital, where she served as chief resident. Dr. Gohara continues to teach at Yale where she holds a faculty appointment as an associate clinical professor.
Anna Guanche, M.D. (she/her) is a board-certified dermatologist and dermatologic surgeon specializing in cosmetic procedures. Her practice is Bella Skin Institute in Calabasas, CA, where she cares for all types of skin conditions with a special emphasis in the areas of cosmetic dermatology and laser surgery.
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