The Use of Vitamin K to Help With Dark Circles

There is one skin care ingredient that I think is a top performing but is not widely recognized for how well that it works. This is shame because Vitamin K has been a lifesaver for a my horrible dark under eye circles. Vitamin K is one of the active ingredients in one of my favorite eye creams, B. Kamins Therapeutic Eye Cream. B. Kamins is a line that was started by Canadian scientist Ben Kaminsky, in response to his research with children’s rosacea (a condition that both of his children suffered from). He makes some of my favorite facial products for both sensitive and redness prone skin. Between this line and Caudalie, I never need to look for skincare products again (but of course I will keep testing more and more!).

This the description of the eye cream that I am so in love with, “An exceptional topical cosmeceutical treatment indicated for both dark circles around the eyes and skin bruising resulting from cosmetic skin procedures. Contains hesperetin, vitamin K, stabilized vitamin C, sodium hyaluronate and glycosaminoglycans to help strengthen fragile capillaries and cosmetically neutralize color differences in the orbital eye area. Also rich in zinc and copper oligopeptides to help decrease the period required for healing bruises, and Bio-Maple™ compound, a powerful humectant/moisturizer to help normalize a damaged stratum corneum.” In English? This eye cream helped to reduce the appearance of my under eye circles by helping to thicken the skin itself, not just attempt to bleach them away.

I need to make a distinction between the two major types of under eye circles first. They are either blue or black. Black circles are caused by circulation and the pooling of the blood in the under eye area. A bleaching agent can help with this condition, however a side effect is that will thin the skin over time, possibly speeding along wrinkles and other forms of aging. I am saying to not using a bleaching agent if you have these types of circles, Murad Lighten and Brighten is considered on of the best eye creams on the market today and will help with this type of skin issue. But if you (like myself) have blue under eye circles, a bleaching agent will not give you the type of results that you are looking for. I suffer from have thin skin and the blood vessels just naturally show through. This is more common in very fair complexions than anyone else. I need to thicken my under eye skin so that the blood vessels aren’t showing through as much.

This is where Vitamin K comes in. It helps the skin to strengthen itself from the inside out, ultimately making it stronger and healthier and allows less of the blood vessels to be visible through the surface of the skin. This ingredient is one of my favorites and I think it gets much less attention than it deserves and I recommend to anyone who is having issues with discoloration in their under eye area.

photo courtesy of B. Kamins