We all go to bed hoping to rise and shine looking fully rested and refreshed. But what if you’re waking up with puffy eyes instead? In this blog post, we’ll answer questions such as:

• What causes puffy eyes in the morning?
• How can I reduce eye puffiness?
• What are the best eye creams for puffy eyes?

Why Am I Waking up With Puffy Eyes?

When fluid accumulates below your eyes, it causes the area to look puffy. People tend to experience the sensation of waking up with puffy eyes in the morning as a result of fluid that has naturally settled there while you’re sleeping. Lack of sleep, eating a salty meal or smoking can also add to fluid retention, making your eyes look puffier when you wake up. Crying or dehydration (either from drinking alcohol or not drinking enough water) could also be your answer to what causes your puffy eyes in the morning.

How to Reduce Puffiness Around the Eyes

If you’re waking up with puffy eyes, you might benefit from making lifestyle changes such as cutting back on salt and/or alcohol. Also to prevent waking up with puffy eyes, it’s worth a try to consider heading to bed an hour or two earlier than your normal bedtime and making sure to stay hydrated throughout the day by aiming for those recommended eight to ten glasses of water a day.

For quick relief from puffy eyes, try using a cool compress, which helps curbs under-eye bags by restricting your blood vessels. You can create a cool compress with a washcloth moistened with cool water, sliced cucumber straight from the fridge or the Osmosis Skincare Cool Skin Tool, a skin device that stays cool for thirty minutes to help calm puffy and inflamed skin.

The Best Eye Creams for Puffy Eyes

A topical eye cream, gel or mask can also come to the rescue when you experience puffiness. Here’s the lowdown on our expert picks for seven of the best eye creams for puffy eyes.

SkinMedica Instant Bright Eye Mask

Use these adhesive gel patches once a week, or as needed, to bring relief to tired eyes. Each patch contains hydrogel technology designed to help calm under-eye puffiness, baker’s yeast to infuse moisture, golden herb to rejuvenate the skin and Rhodiola rosea root to deliver healing antioxidant protection to your skin. For best use, just apply one patch below each eye and relax for fifteen to twenty minutes before removing.

Eminence Organics Cucumber Eye Gel

Whenever you need a depuffing pick-me-up, apply this lightweight gel-cream formula in the morning after waking up with puffy eyes, mid-day or even before bed. This eye treatment pairs together wild hops with the benefits of cucumber skin care to support the appearance of rejuvenated skin, while the combined power of shea butter and evening primrose oil work to help soften and smooth. It also contains bearberry, a botanical that’s typically used to help lighten age spots and discoloration.

Neocutis Lumiere Firm Illuminating & Tightening Cream

This luxurious eye cream contains caffeine to depuff by narrowing blood vessels and also helps to brighten dark under-eye circles using glycyrrhetinic acid, address skin hydration with sodium hyaluronate and encourage firmness with proprietary peptides. If crow’s feet are also one of your concerns, then you’ll love that this eye cream also features growth factors to help smooth the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines.

Obagi ELASTIderm Eye Serum

To maximize its benefits, learn how to best apply the ELASTIderm Eye Serum, formerly known as Obagi ELASTIderm Eye Complex Serum, using the rollerball applicator for a soothing mini-massage one to two times a day. Caffeine helps combat the effects of waking up with puffy eyes, while a proprietary Bi-Mineral Contour Complex helps boost skin elasticity for a tighter, firmer look. It also contains malonic acid, which is Obagi’s patent-pending active ingredient that’s designed to help refresh dull skin by stimulating new skin cells.

SkinCeuticals AOX+ Eye Gel

Formulated to help zap signs of fatigue, this restorative eye treatment contains all the potency of a serum in a silky gel form. It not only wakes up tired eyes with a boost of caffeine, but it also combats signs of aging with wrinkle-smoothing vitamin C, ferulic acid and phloretin. After waking up with puffy eyes, dab on a small amount before applying your daily sunscreen and makeup for best results.

LovelySkin LUXE Brightening Eye Cream

“If we were going to have a multi-benefit eye cream, I wanted to make sure it was special,” says board-certified dermatologist and LovelySkin CEO, Dr. Schlessinger. “Horse chestnut extract is the active ingredient that works to diminish puffiness and lessen dark undereye circles.” It also contains SNAP-8 peptides and hyaluronic acid, which team up to smooth fine lines and help the skin around your eyes look plumper.

La Roche-Posay Toleriane Ultra Eye Cream

If you also suffer from redness or dry patches around your eyes in addition to waking up with puffy eyes, then this soothing eye cream is going to be your new best friend. It contains thermal spring water to maximize hydration, shea butter to lock in moisture, niacinamide to comfort red, irritated skin and neurosensine to help reduce skin reactivity. La Roche-Posay also tested this eye cream on allergy-prone skin, making it a smart choice for sensitive skin types.

Is your skin feeling especially dehydrated lately? Read up on the Five Best Hydrating Serums on the LovelySkin Blog.