Under eye exfoliation

[MandaJW]

Can anyone recommend an under eye exfoliator? I have never exfoliated under my eyes before, but at age 31 I’m starting to notice some fine lines and creepeness. I have pretty sensitive skin so the thought of exfoliating the most sensitive part of my face is nerve wrecking and I want to make sure I do it right! Any product recommendations or tips would be helpful 🙂 Side note: not sure if this matters with exfoliation, but I’ve also noticed some visible under eye veins that are popping up due to my skin thinning with age. Will exfoliation make this worse?

[Chris38]

There’s a reason all exfoliating production say “avoid eye area.” The skin around your eyes is incredibly thin. Like an order of magnitude thinner than the skin on your nose or even cheeks. You might need a different moisturizer. I like to use Origins A Perfect World. They have both a serum and a moisturizer with SPF. Then at night, I use Eye Doctor.

[WinglessOne]

@MandaJW  Exfoliation simply removes dead skin cells from the surface of your face. That probably won't address your fine lines and crepey skin. I recommend focusing on hydrating that skin, adding a product containing retinol and peptides to address your specific concerns, sealing hydration in with a great moisturizer, and topping everything off with sunscreen. There's no point in doing any work to reduce lines and crepey skin if you're not also going to stop the sun from doing more damage. 

What initially helped my crepey wrinkled undereyes (I'm in my late 40s) was Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare Ferulic + Retinol Triple Correction Eye Serum . It contains peptides, retinol (probably a very low %), hydrating ingredients, and great antioxidants. It does also contain exfoliating ingredients (AHAs and BHA), but the pH of this product is reportedly not in the correct range for them to work. I used to use that eye serum each night, though I never used it on my eyelids. Once I started an OTC retinol serum and worked usage of that up to every other night, I used the DDG eye serum only on nights I didn't use retinol under my eyes. Nowadays, I use NIOD Fractionated Eye Contour Concentrate around my eye area, in addition to my retinol serum. I still occasionally use the DDG eye serum, but now I apply it to my whole face because it's loaded with so much good stuff. 

Note that you'll get lines under your eyes regardless of what products you apply to that skin, and that's okay! 🙂 Sun damage can cause wrinkles, but so can years of making facial expressions. Aside from a retinoid (OTC retinol, Rx tretinoin/Retin-A, etc.), you could go the injectable filler route to treat undereye lines. I'm not ready to do that yet because I'm a big baby about hypodermic needles, especially when pointed at my face 😬, but it's a good option. It's not permanent, so you'll have to get fillers redone every few months.