I tried everything to try to get rid of my under-eye bags that I could think of—except surgery. I wanted to get rid of them naturally, if I could. It was always the first thing I noticed in any picture taken of me, and I had them for as long as I can remember. Cucumbers don’t work anymore. They used to work when I was 16 and all the under-eye puffiness was from early morning fluid retention, but now securely in middle age, they made little difference. I tried tea bags. I tried coffee. I tried honey. I’ve bought expensive under-eye bag treatments from Kiehl’s, and they were lovely, but I don’t think they made a bit of difference. I made my own under-eye treatments. I tried potatoes. Salt. Baking soda. Cold spoons. Gel masks. Ice masks. Activated charcoal. Preparation H. Face yoga.
Yes, you read that right: FACE. YOGA.
None of it worked. Not really.
Some of the above will help if you have extra fluid in your face due to dehydration or just waking up, but I needed something more to get rid of my eye bags. There is under-eye fluid retention, and then there are fat deposits that get more pronounced as we age. The fat deposits don’t easily go away without surgery, at least that’s what Google told me.
Then I found this weird new tool and treatment. It’s called a derma-roller.
Enter the derma-roller.
The derma-roller is a tool that has a handle, like a razor, and at the end is a little cylinder on a spindle that rolls. On the cylinder are lots and lots of teensy tiny spikes. You can get them in various lengths, usually from about .25mm to 2mm.
Now, here comes the fun part: you roll these spikes over your face. Over and over and over.
Beauty hurts.
I’m not going to lie—it hurts like hell. It shouldn’t hurt too much, of course. Doing these treatments at home, you shouldn’t draw blood, or if you do, it should be very minimal. I find that it really only hurts on my forehead where there’s little fat to cushion the pain. But where I really want it to matter—under the eyes—it hurts good.
The method.
I recommend performing this procedure at night before bed, and not before you have something special to do in the morning. Your face will probably be red and blotchy afterwards, and while eight hours of sleep is sometimes enough to restore skin color, it isn’t always.
Then, make sure the derma-roller is clean. Like, super-duper clean. I pour rubbing alcohol over mine to disinfect and then rinse with water. Before your treatment, you want to apply a serum of some kind to your face, like Vitamin C or copper peptides or hyoraulic acid. Don’t use retinoids or something that’s damaging to the skin, as you’re going to damage it a lot with the derma-roller. That’s the point, actually.
Roll the derma-roller over your face in sections. While I primarily use it for the under-eye benefits, it works wonders on the whole face, keeping it fresh, young and dewy. So, do the whole thing.
Start with a section and roll up and down about 5-10 times. Then horizontally about 5-10 times. If it’s a problem area, you can go diagonally as well, which I do this for the under-eye section, as I’ll get to later. Work your way all over the face. You might have to gently hold the skin you’re rolling taut while you’re rolling, especially over fleshy areas on your cheek. I always start with the forehead because it hurts the most, and then the worst is over with.
Do the whole face, section by section. Afterwords, put the serum on your face again. Then wash your derma-roller with alcohol and rinse, leave it out to air dry, and you’re done!
Under-Eye Bag Section
So obviously, this area is super delicate and tender, both because your skin is very thin, but also because your eyes are, um, kind of important and they’re right there.
How close do you go? I go right up to the orbital bone (that bone where your eye socket is), but no further. Whatever you do, don’t roll over skin that’s on the eyeball, anywhere. In fact, you shouldn’t be in danger of hitting your eyeball in any way, either through the skin or not. If you pull your skin down a bit, you should be well in the clear of any injury. Also, only do underneath your eye. Do NOT do your eyelids! I usually stop right above the eyebrows, but you can roll your eyebrow area. Just don’t go any lower than that.
Some sites say not to use more than .25mm on your under-eye, but then others use 1.0mm and it’s fine. I went with .5mm, and it’s done me really well. For your first try, don’t do more than .5mm, and if you’re especially worried about safety, start with .25mm. Always go lightly on your skin the first time and assess later.
For my under-eye section, I pull the skin down just a bit and first go horizontally over the whole area about five times, then vertically about five times, then diagonally in each direction. Because the surface isn’t flat, I am also sure to get that area just next to the nose, especially where the indentation between the eye bag and the cheek is. You’re not (I assume) removing the fat, but rather making that indentation less prominent.
Why does this work?
The micro-needles puncture the skin just a little bit, and this does two things. For one, it allows for much better absorption into the skin of whatever serum you’re applying. And secondly, it tells the skin to make more collagen and elastin to repair the micro-punctures. To get rid of the under-eye bags, it essentially makes the crease under it less apparent, smoothing out the surface of your skin.
You can also get rid of those eye bags at a dermatologist’s office.
If you’re looking for more extreme results from a micro-needling session, seek out a dermatologist. You can buy derma-rollers with longer needles online, but I wouldn’t recommend going above 1.0mm unless you really know what you’re doing.
How often do you derma-roll?
Sources vary on this, but I find that with a .5mm derma-roller, almost never more than once a week. Occasionally, I’ll derma-roll twice a week, but if I do, it’s because I haven’t done it in months and I need a refresh. I’ll then let my skin rest for a few weeks after that. You also shouldn’t do it every week. I usually do it once a month or two for maintenance. See more info here.
My results.
It’s hard to show in pictures, but I would say I reduced the appearance of my under-eye bags by 50-75%. It usually looks best two days after the first treatment—that’s the 75% reduction. And after a week or two it loses that initial glow, but it keeps steady with little to no maintenance with about a 50% reduction from what they looked like originally.
Just recently, I found a casting notice for an under-eye treatment, and they were looking for someone in my general age and looks range with “visible eye bags.” My initial reaction was to instantly apply. I could earn money! And reduce my eye bags!
But wait…
They wanted a picture of me, right now, to send to casting. I filled out the email, took a picture and…
I couldn’t apply. While I was thinking I still had a way to go, I took an honest look at my very raw, very under-fluorescent-lighting selfie and…
I had nothin’. No eye bags to show for it. How incredible is that?
If you need better proof, check out this guy, who used a more aggressive derma-roller, but he’s an aesthetic surgeon so he gets a pass.
What to get?
The derma-roller I use is this one. I also recommend getting a serum like this one or this one. Another option is this nice combo which combines both the derma-roller and the serum for only $13 total.
Yeah, it hurts a bit and might take a few sessions, but having the option to get rid of your under-eye bags naturally, quickly, easily and cheaply is golden. Even if you don’t have eye bags, it’s a simple solution to keep your skin young and fresh looking.