The eyes may be the window to your soul, but it can also be a window to your age. Crow’s feet are branching wrinkle at the outer corner of the eyes. Crow’s feet together with fine lines under the eyes are usually the first signs of ageing on the face. And this usually happens as early as in your 20’s!

Causes of fines lines around the eyes

The skin

The skin around the eyes is a thin layer. It also contains less oil-secreting glands than the rest of the face. Thus it lacks the ability to keep itself moisturized compared to the rest of the face.

As we move from the teenage years to our 20’s, our face shows signs of maturing and begins to shed fat off our face. The loss of fat together with less collagen and hyaluronic acids makes the area around the eyes more susceptible to the manifestation of fine lines. All these are exacerbated by the gradual loss of elasticity in the skin around the eyes.

Repeated facial movements

Crow’s feet and fine lines under the eyes are often referred to as laugh-lines, for a reason. But it does not confine to smiling, squinting and frowning could also add lines to the thin layer of skin around the eyes.

UV exposure

Harmful UV rays ages our skin. Photoageing will be pronounced in the thin layer of skin around the eyes.

Pollutants

Airborne pollutants too have the ability to age your skin and Urbanites especially are facing these challenges.

Smoking

According to the Mayo clinic website, smoking can speed up the normal ageing process of your skin, contributing to wrinkles. The nicotine in cigarettes causes the narrowing of blood vessels in the outermost layers of your skin. This impairs blood flow to your skin and your skin gets less oxygen and nutrients such as vitamin A. Although this process would take years, the effects will be noticeable eventually.

To mitigate

The fine lines around the eyes cannot be avoided but there are some steps we can take to lessen and hopefully delay their appearances.

  • Avoid UV exposure and a pair of sunglasses should further help in this.
  • Moisturize – either an eye cream, eye serum or hydrating eye gel to keep the skin area the eyes hydrated.
  • Healthy diet and drink plenty of water
  • Reduce exposure to toxins – this may be difficult in the cities. But ways to detoxify may help.
  • Sleep to rejuvenate – get enough sleep so your skin has the time to rejuvenate while you rest.