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Rise and Shine. Is your epidermis trying to tell you something?  Not only are dark circles unsightly (unless you are practicing for your powder addict halloween costume) but they also may be a sign that your body is trying to tell you that something is wrong.

Dark circles can be a sign of dehydration, allergies, fatigue or vitamin deficiencies (or most of the above if you were out drinking last night). There are a lot of ways to live without dark circles around your eyes and avoid medical procedures.

1. Stay Hydrated: dehydration can be culprit of many common aesthetic and health issues, including: cellulite, acne, fatigue, dry skin, redness in skin and dark circles around eyes.  My staple is a 1.5 litter water bottle (or 6 cups per day).  It’s not the recommended 8/day but depending on your weight and activity level you may be able to get away with less. Staying hydrated is a good idea anyway and may knock out the dark circles without any other treatments.
2. Get Plenty of Sleep: this may seem like a given but generally even people who get 7-9 hours of sleep aren’t getting a quality night’s rest.  You may not be sleeping as much as you think because of stress or medical disorders such as asthma, sleep apnea or depression.  If you are often fatigued and feel that you are providing your body with enough water and sleep I suggest that you visit your doctor.
3. Vitamins: sometimes dark circles around the eyes can be a deficiency of vitamin K and/or retinol (vitamin A). Take a multi-vitamin every day and pick up some overnight skin cream containing both K and retinol.  Within a week you should see an improvement  if you circles are vitamin related.
4. Allergies: if you know that you have an allergy or you have tried all of the above remedies and nothing is working it is most likely that you have allergy related circles.  Cats and dogs are only the beginning.  Many people (myself included) are allergic to other daily encounters such as: food, chemicals, plants, dust, etc etc etc.  You can easily do an at home allergy test (this is the first time your dark circles will ever say anything to you besides “makeup!”).  Take a Zyrtec or Claritin D for a few days in a row. If the dark circles mostly go away then you most likely have an allergy.  Visit an allergist to try and PINpoint it (sorry cruel humor), and pray that the culprit isn’t the white raspberry truffle Haagen Dazs in your freezer.
5. Less Common Causes: if nothing else works you should make an appointment with your doctor.  Other causes of dark eye circles include anemia, liver and kidney problems.