What Is the Difference Between Eye Cream and Moisturizer?
It’s pretty obvious even to the casual observer that the skin around our eyes is slightly different from the rest of our face. But is it different enough to deserve a whole different product? Some people swear by eye cream, while others say it’s a waste .
The answer depends on who you ask and, to some extent, how much you are willing to spend. Eye creams tend to be more expensive and come in smaller packs than regular moisturizers, and their active ingredient concentrations are specially formulated for sensitive skin. But many of the ingredients are the same.
If you want, you can spend $ 350 for just over half an ounce of La Prairie Skin Caviar Luxe Eye Lift Cream at Neiman Marcus. For about $ 8 on Amazon, you can buy the Garnier SkinActive Clearly Brighter Anti-Puff Anti-Puff Eye Roller . You can also apply Pond’s Dry Skin Cream for $ 5 from Target or any other pharmacy.
But do you need any of this? Despite being close to our eyes, it’s just skin, right? Keep it clean, moisturized and protected from the sun and everything is okay?
Dermatologists are very clear that things are not so simple.
“The skin of the eyelids is the thinnest skin in the body,” says Debra Jaliman , a board-certified dermatologist in private practice in New York City.
She explains that the delicate skin around the eyes is less than a millimeter thick. The 28,800 blinks during a typical day are also stressful to the skin, she said. Add to that our low supply of sebaceous glands and our sloppy fingers moving from the iPhone screen to the subway post to our itchy, tired eyes, and a lot will work against this area.
The skin around the eyes is not only very susceptible to the signs of aging, but it is also one of the most noticeable on the entire face, ”Certified Dermatologist Sonia Badrescia-Bansal , Fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology and founder of Elite MD in San Francisco. indicates – after all, we look into each other’s eyes when we speak. It is also often the first place where eczema appears.
And for most of us, of course, there is no need to even mention the current annual horror that is spring allergy that makes even the youngest and smoothest monsters among us with pouty eyes. Papri Sarkar , a board-certified dermatologist practicing in private practice in Brooklyn, Massachusetts, says she has seen patients asking about eyelid surgery for allergy sufferers – she does not recommend surgery or cream for that, but patience and antihistamines.
That’s enough to make you want to hide behind huge wraparound cloaks. (Jaliman strongly recommends this for the record.)
All three dermis agree that the terrain will certainly benefit from a little grooming, both preventively before the crows start to leave marks and after fine lines have already begun to appear. Eye cream is one way to do this, but not the only one.
(While all our talk has been about eye creams, every doctor is convinced that sun protection is one of the most important ways to protect your skin from head to toe aesthetically and medically. So now we clog you with this. in case you didn’t get your message. Sunscreen, yo. Get it .)
Difference between eye cream and moisturizer
You can use any moisturizer that you apply to the rest of your face to care for your eyes. It will effectively moisturize the skin. But eye creams usually differ from regular facial moisturizers in several key ways.
First, active ingredients such as retinol appear in lower concentrations to reduce irritation to the delicate skin of the eyes. Eye creams are also almost always fragrance-free, eliminating another potential irritant. Many brands, Jaliman notes, are tested by both dermatologists and ophthalmologists.
Certain ingredients commonly found in eye creams can offer quick and temporary solutions to problems common to the eye area. According to Jaliman, the most popular of these is caffeine, which constricts the blood vessels around the eyes.
Studies have shown that caffeine is effective as a vasoconstrictor, which means it immediately stimulates blood flow when applied topically to the skin, ideal for a quick recovery in the morning after a tough night. One study has shown clear results – both immediate and cumulative – with 3 percent caffeine.
“Caffeine is a superstar eye cream product to me,” says Sarkar. “The molecules are small enough to pass through the pores. You can take topical collagen and apply it to your skin all day, but it doesn’t really matter – it won’t get into your pores. “
Badrescia-Bansal claims that peptides stimulate collagen production, so they are good at preventing wrinkles. Polypeptides and oligopeptides have been shown to increase collagen production, and a decrease in collagen with aging is one of the main causes of sagging and wrinkled skin. Jaliman is a fan of hyaluronic acid, an effective moisturizer found in commercial skin care right now, as a non-irritating ingredient for plumpness and hydration. And foods with vitamin C, according to Sarkar, brighten the skin.
All three said that you would not harm if you applied the eye cream all over your face, except perhaps your bank account. But it won’t be particularly beneficial to use a lower concentration of an active ingredient, such as retinol, on parts of your face that can tolerate and benefit from the higher concentration.
Using a regular moisturizer as an eye cream can have its own problems. It might be too bold, Jaliman said, and she’s seen patients who follow this path end up getting milia, stubborn little white bumps that are best removed with a scalpel or laser.
“You can buy an eye cream for $ 20 at the pharmacy,” says Jaliman. “This is a good investment.”
How to get an eye cream experience without spreading
While there is a lot of scientific knowledge behind the common ingredients in eye creams, there are other skin care methods that do not require a high price tag.
“I don’t think you need to spend $ 200 on eye cream,” says Jaliman.
Badresia Bansal says part of the appeal of eye creams is the physical act of applying something special.
“People also really prefer the car they are in,” she says. “It gets smoother, it feels more luxurious.” If a sense of fantasy is important to you, you can certainly find eye creams to help.
According to Badreschii-Bansal, the rollers that include some of the eye serums are fun and a good way to distribute the product. If stored in the refrigerator, they can cool down further. Sarkar says a cold compress will do the same for free.
Sarkar loves eye cream, but it’s not on her must-have three-item list. (This is, of course, a cleanser, sunscreen, and moisturizer.) Unless you feel like laying out or sacrificing cabinet space for another product, she says you can use the products you already have and just thin them down to about half a simple moisturizing cream.