Your eyes age faster due to the skin around them being thinner and lacking oil glands, making it prone to dryness, wrinkles, and sagging from collagen/elastin loss, sun exposure, genetics, smoking, dehydration, poor diet (sugar), lack of sleep, stress, and underlying conditions like diabetes, all accelerating collagen breakdown and structural weakening.
The epidermis, (the outer layer of skin), is thinnest on eyelids and thickest on the palms of your hands and soles of your feet. That thin skin breaks down faster than thicker skin does because it isn't as collagen-rich (collagen is a protein that gives skin a supple, firm appearance) as other areas of your body.
Protecting Your Aging Eyes
Not Wearing Sunglasses
Overexposure to UV rays is one of the biggest causes of eye health and vision issues, including cataracts and glaucoma. Age-related diseases may occur naturally as your eyes get older. However, without proper protection, you may start to notice symptoms for them at an earlier age.
These problems are often easily corrected. Glasses, contact lenses, and improved lighting may help and enable you to maintain your lifestyle and independence. Your risk for some eye diseases and conditions increases as you grow older, and some eye changes are more serious.
Top Tips to make your eyes look younger
How to reduce dark circles and sleep wrinkles
Antioxidants — nutrients that remove potentially damaging oxidizing agents from the body — play a critical role in our eye health. Oxidation is among the causes of cell aging and death. Antioxidants slow down this process in a variety of ways. Vitamins A, C and E all fall into this category of nutrients.
Mantis shrimps (Stomatopoda)
Mantis shrimps probably have the most sophisticated vision in the animal kingdom. Their compound eyes move independently and they have 12 to 16 visual pigments compared to our three. They are the only animals known to be able to see circular polarised light.
How to Stimulate Collagen Production Under Eyes
The 10-10-10 rule for eyes is a simple strategy to combat digital eye strain: every 10 minutes, take a 10-second break and look at something at least 10 feet away, giving your eyes a rest from near-focus on screens. This practice helps prevent eye fatigue, dryness, and headaches by allowing eye muscles to relax and encouraging blinking, which is often reduced during screen use, says Healthline and Brinton Vision.
Sleeping Positions and Dry Eye
Studies have found that two sleeping positions should be avoided to help with dry eyes. These are sleeping on your side and face down. You also want to avoid having a pillow or hand pressed against your eyes. The best sleeping position for dry eyes is on your back.
Signs you're aging well include physical vitality (easy movement, good balance, strength for daily tasks), sharp cognitive function (curiosity, learning new skills, remembering details), and strong emotional/social health (staying connected, finding purpose, managing stress). It's about maintaining independence, a positive mindset, and actively engaging in activities you enjoy, not just looking younger, though good skin/hair can be indicators too.
Ultraviolet (UV) light and exposure to sunlight age your skin more quickly than it would age naturally. The result is called photoaging, and it's responsible for 90% of visible changes to your skin. UV light damages skin cells, contributing to premature changes like age spots.
It plays a vital role in maintaining the structural integrity of the eyes. Taking collagen for eyes supports both eye health and skin. It has been shown to reduce ageing of the skin and has a similar anti-aging effect on all tissue containing it, including vital eye structures.
The best foods to eat to help ensure good retina health include the following:
Although also present in other plant-derived foods, the richest natural sources of vitamin C are fruits and vegetables. Vitamin C is the most widely taken dietary supplement.
Natural Ways to Help Improve Vision and Eye Health
Making Your Face Look Younger
Studies have shown the vitamin A is the single most effective method of restoring the skin's natural collagen and elastin fibers. These fibers are responsible for keeping the skin taut, firm, and wrinkle-free.
A search for “Vaseline under eyes” brings up thousands of people raving about this trick and several experts explaining how it works. You simply dab some onto the fragile skin under your eyes each night in place of eye cream to lock in moisture. The added hydration plumps up skin and can help reduce fine lines.
Eat 2 to 4 servings of raw fruit or vegetables per day, especially carrots, sweet potatoes, spinach, kale, bell peppers, papaya, mangos, oranges and berries. Raw fruits and vegetable retain full antioxidant strength and the brighter the produce the better.
Naphazoline and tetrahydrozoline are the more "traditional" medications used to whiten your eyes. They both work by shrinking small blood vessels along the eye's surface. Brimonidine is a newer addition that was originally (and still is) used to treat glaucoma with a much higher dosage.
How they sparkle is a reflection of our health. Eyes that are overly tired, fatigued, dry and itchy lose their lustre and appear dull or even reddish-pink, the colour of soreness and inflammation.