The medical term for the skin around the eyes looking swollen or puffy is “periorbital puffiness.” The cause is commonly edema, swelling caused by the retention of fluid, which can occur due to crying or during sleep. This puffiness usually goes away on its own, though a person can take steps to reduce the swelling.
When a person cries with emotion, they can produce more tears than the lacrimal drainage system can cope with. This causes the tears to run out of the eyes and sometimes the nose. Tissue around the eyes can then reabsorb the tears, making the area appear puffy.
Along with puffiness and redness, your eyes may feel dry after crying. Not only that, but your whole face — especially the skin under and around your eyes — may also feel dry. Rehydrating your body and your skin should help bring back moisture.
Swollen eyes are caused by an inflammatory response to an allergen, infection or injury, while puffy eyes are soft and swollen eyelids that are due to water retention, lack of sleep, or genetic traits like age-related sagging or puffiness of the eyelids.
The water in the tears will flow to areas of lower concentration, which in this case is the saltier ocular tissues around the eyes, trying to balance the levels of water. Thus when we cry from emotions, our eyes will hold those tears in the tissues, which results in swelled, puffy eyes.
When someone cries, their heart rate increases and their breathing slows down. The more vigorous the crying, the greater the hyperventilation, which reduces the amount of oxygen the brain receives — leading to an overall state of drowsiness.
Cold compresses: Cooling the area lessens inflammation and swelling by reducing blood flow. You can place anything cold, such as an ice pack, frozen bag of vegetables, chilled cucumber slices or refrigerated spoons, over closed eyes for a few minutes.
Waking up with puffy eyelids—known as eyelid edema—occurs because of fluid retention. During sleep, the body's heart rate and blood pressure slow down. As a result, less blood circulates, which can lead to eyelid edema in the morning. It resolves quickly once you are awake.
A swollen or puffy eyelid is common. In many cases, the swelling goes away within 1 day. You can reduce the swelling with compresses, but how you treat a swollen eyelid also depends on its cause. Causes can range from fluid retention to a severe infection.
Bagginess under the eyes may also be due to genetics, and in these cases, are difficult to resolve and may be more permanent. They may appear almost overnight, may develop over time, and may stay for as long as the underlying cause is unresolved.
Tears also promote eye health, contributing to keeping dry eye disease at bay, and flushing out potential infection risks. To summarise, the 5 reasons are: Washes out infection and debris. Hydrates the eyes.
Crying apparently burns as much as laughing does, at about a rate of 1.3 calories a minute.
“There is no evidence that crying actually increases eyelash growth.” While it may appear that way when you're spilling tears, it's just a temporary effect. “Crying does not make the eyelashes grow but the eyelashes may appear darker or straighter as tears lubricate the lashes,” Garshick says.
Run cold water, stick your fingers under the tap, and then gently pat cold water underneath your eyes, where it's all puffy. This cools you down and constricts the blood vessels under your eyes that are causing tattletale swelling. Splash some cold water on your wrists, too. It helps, I don't know why.
Tension headache
When a person cries, several muscles in their face tense up. They may also feel tension in their jaw, down their neck, and at the back of their head. If a person is crying over a prolonged period, the continuous contractions of these muscles may result in a tension headache.
Our tears are made up of three components: lipid (oil), water and mucus. Each of these layers serves their own purpose. The oily layer is the outside of the tear film. It smooths the tear surface and keeps your tears from drying up too quickly.
“It can certainly dry out your eyes and lead to mild irritation in the short-term as well as irritate the skin around the eyes, but none of those effects should have any long-lasting changes on the eyes or the skin around them,” Dhingra says.
Get enough sleep. Being well-rested can help reduce swelling around your eyes. Try sticking to a low-sodium diet. Salt induces your body to retain water, which can cause bags and puffiness.
Drinking more water and applying a cold compress can help shrink eye bags quickly, but the only way to reduce their appearance in the long term is to make a few lifestyle changes. This is especially true if your eye bags and dark circles are genetically inherited. Other common causes include: allergies.
Dark circles under the eyes are usually caused by being tired. Sometimes, what appear to be dark circles under your eyes may merely be shadows cast by puffy eyelids or hollows under your eyes that develop as a normal part of aging. Dark circles under the eyes usually aren't a medical problem.
Ice for puffy eyes
The American Academy of Ophthalmology suggests that you can reduce bags under your eyes by applying a cold compress to the area with mild pressure for 15 to 20 minutes.
"Applying cool spoons under the eyes can help reduce puffiness [because] the cool temperature constricts blood vessels and the pressure of the spoon against the skin enhances lymphatic drainage of excess fluid," says board-certified dermatologist Joshua Zeichner.
Cold compress: Apply cold spoons to your eyes to help shrink dilated blood vessels. This can reduce puffy eyelids and the appearance of dark circles. Cucumbers: Lay cucumber slices on your eyes. This can help with puffiness because cucumbers are full of water and vitamin C.