Puffy eyelids causes include numerous factors from health to diet to inevitable aging. Depending on your age and lifestyle, eyelid puffiness can be a long-drawn issue or something that can be resolved quickly. Hence it is beneficial to know whether or not the causes of puffy upper eyelids are due to chronic (conditional) or acute (symptomatic) factors.

Swollen Upper Eyelids Causes

Swollen upper eyelids can occur with causes either from physiological responses and changes or extraneous sources. Eye swelling causes from physiological responses and changes include:

Hormonal Changes

Menstruations, pregnancies, menopauses, etc, can affect our hormonal functions in our body causing fluid and electrolytes imbalance. When this happens, the ability to hydrate as well as the delivery of minerals and nutrients to our cells gets disrupted, which can affect lymph flow and lead to fluid retention. When our lymphatic system becomes sluggish, bloating can take place in the body or face, causing our eyelids to swell. While such hormonal fluctuations can be temporary, doing lymphatic drainage massages can alleviate fluid bloating by increasing circulatory flow in the blood vessels, tissues and organs.

Autoimmune Diseases

Autoimmune diseases including but not limited to thyroid and lupus can also cause the swelling of upper eyelids. Thyroid disorder can be due to the over production of thyroid hormones (hyperthyroidism); for eg, in Grave’s disease – more specifically, when such conditions lead to swollen upper eyelids, it is referred as Thyroid Eye Disease (TED) or Graves’ Ophthalmopathy. Adversely, if the thyroid glands are not producing enough hormones (hypothyroidism); for eg, in the case of Hashimoto thyroiditis, swelling around the eye areas can also occur.

Lacrimation

Lacrimation, otherwise known as crying, causes our lacrimal glands to produce tears that fill up the tissue around our eyes. When there is an excessive production of tears, the lymphatic vessels of the tear ducts can get overwhelmed, leading to an accumulation of fluid around the eyelid area, causing swollen eyelids from crying.

Aging

Aging gives rise to loss in skin’s elasticity as well as the density in our facial bones. These result in our supporting structure to shrink and shift over time, causing changes to our fat distribution around our face. This is no exception to the eyelids; the fat pads in our eyelids loses their support from the surrounding muscles and ligaments as well, hence they sag and bulge as we age, causing our eyelids to appear puffy.

Eyelids swelling can also be caused by extraneous sources and factors such as:

Sleep Deprivation and Fatigue

The lack of sleep and rest put a toll on not just our health but our physical appearance as well. Poor sleeping habits leads to poor blood circulation in our body, and this causes hindrance to the function of our blood vessels of delivering nutrients and oxygen to our cells as well as the removing of waste, toxins and excess fluids from our system. Constant tiredness also increases our body’s histamine level, which can dilate capillaries and increase blood flow that can allow fluid to leak into the surrounding tissue including those of our eyelids. In usual cases, the lack of sleep can cause one or both eyes to be swollen in the morning, and the puffiness will gradually subside within a day.

Ocular Allergies/ Infections

Allergies are triggered by bacterial infections which can sometimes exacerbate to inflammation. Infections such as sinusitis, blepharitis, styes and chalazion are caused by blocked glands due to bacteria or poor hygiene that allows mucus production (in the case of sinus) and oil secretions to build up, sometimes causing bottom eyelids to be swollen as well. Histamine, along with other peptides and lipids, are released by our cells as our body’s immune response to protect it from pathogens and while doing so, dilate the blood vessels around the eyes at the same time increase vascular permeability in those areas including the eyelids. When fluid leaks out of these fragile capillaries to the adjacent tissues, inflammation of the eyelids occur and causes swelling.

High Sodium Diet

As mentioned, fluid and electrolyte imbalance can interfere with the physiological processes in our body. A high salt diet reduces the function of our kidneys in flushing out the fluid waste from our system because of how our body strives for a certain balance of sodium-to-water concentration. The excess salt binds with the extra fluid needed causing the body to retain more water. As this extra amount of fluid is retained in the extracellular compartment of the body, it can cause swelling of the limbs, face and even the eyelids.

Puffy Eyelids Causes & Treatments

Swollen eyelids treatments should be medically sought for eyelid disorders relating to deeper-rooted health issues. Treatments for styes and blepharitis often involve topical antihistamine or antibiotic eye drops for such bacterial infections. There are however some home remedies on how to reduce puffy eye bags and eyelid swelling if the symptoms posed are not indications of any life-threatening risks.

Swollen Eyelids Remedy

Other than adjusting your lifestyle such as sleeping habits and lowering down your sodium intake, remedies for swollen upper eyelids can also include eye massages to improve lymphatic drainage, as well as topical treatment like applying Aloe Vera Gel, Vitamin E oil as well as anti-puffiness eye creams containing retinol or caffeine to help reduce swollen eyelids. Caffeine de-puffs the eyelid by constricting blood vessels around our eyes, thereby regulating the blood flow and prevents any fluid from permeating and getting retained in the tissues. Retinol reduces swelling by improving skin’s elasticity and firmness and helps lift saggy skin and tissue around our eyes to reduce the appearance of puffiness and droopiness of the eyelids.

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Disclaimer: The information contained in these topics is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical/ dermatological advice. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare/ skincare provider before starting any new treatment or discontinuing an existing treatment. Talk with your healthcare/ skincare provider about any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Nothing contained herein is intended to be used for dermatological/ medical diagnosis or treatment.