8 home remedies to reduce puffy eyes from crying

Eating a healthy diet and staying hydrated may reduce the appearance of puffy eyes. For example, people can try the following:

How To Get Rid Of Swollen Eyes From Crying

The condition is easily treated with cold compresses, cucumber applications, witch hazel rubs and topical creams.

Puffy eyes usually resolve within a day, but persistently puffy eyes can point to a more serious underlying condition such as allergies, kidney failure or thyroid disease.

Intro

Puffy eyes — or bags under the eyes — is a condition where the lower part of your eye swells. It is common in old age but can also occur because of excess crying and too little sleeping.

Although it’s not a severe condition, it affects your appearance, and it can look more serious than it is.

Common Causes of Puffy Eyes

Puffy eyes typically occur as you get older since the tissues around your eyes weaken. Additionally, you will have puffy eyes because of fat deposits around the lower eyelids. Other causes of puffy eyes include:

• Lack of enough sleep
• Smoking tobacco
• Taking in excess salts
• Allergies
• Genetics

Puffy Eyes after Crying

Crying can lead to the sore, red and swelled eyes. But some tears are more causative than others, particularly those that are tied to emotional crying. Reasons why tears cause puffiness:

• You cry too many tears for you to handle. You may produce more tears than what your eyes’ drainage system can take. The body will thus retain some of the tears in the tissues in the lower eyelids as it tries to reabsorb them, causing puffiness of the eyes.
• The content of your tears has less salt. Unlike other tears, emotional tears have little salt (sodium). When you shed these tears, it gets absorbed in surrounding tissue with high salt concentration, which can cause puffy eyes.

Treatment for Crying-Related Puffiness

Among the treatment options for puffy eyes are cold cucumbers, witch hazel and topical creams.

Cucumber

Applying cucumber at the base of your eyes is a common remedy for ridding your eyes of puffiness. The cucumber’s high water content and anti-inflammatory effects can reduce swellings such as puffy eyes.

Witch Hazel

It’s a plant extract commonly used for treating skin pruritus (itchiness), but it has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. That means it can reduce inflammation, such as those caused by puff eyes.

Topical Creams

Some topical eye creams, such as Fexofenadine, effectively control puffy eyes after crying. They reduce swelling and dark circles around your eyes.

Puffy Eyes After Sleeping

Sleeping can also lead to bags under the eyes. When you sleep, your eyes continue to make tears, but they don’t drain away because you’ve shut them.

Retained tears get absorbed by tissues around your eyes, causing puffiness.

Treatment for Puffy Eyes After Sleeping

To get rid of puffy eyes after sleep, do the following:

1. Get Enough Sleep

Sleeping fewer hours than recommended leads to fluid retention, which causes eye swells. Aim at getting at least seven to nine hours of sleep a night. Reduce your food intake during the night, which affects the quality of sleep you get.

2. Elevate Your Head

Sleeping with your head slightly raised will help reduce fluid retention in your eyes. A simple way of doing this is by using an extra pillow.

3. Use Cool Compresses

Doctors usually use ice or cool compress to reduce eye swell. The technique can also help reduce puffy eyes after sleep. The cooling effect of the cloth will help reduce the swelling around the eyes.

Tips on How to Get Rid of Puffy

Puffy eyes usually disappear after a few hours without medication. But due to its effects on your facial appearance, you might want to get rid of them fast. There are home-made and medical treatment options:

• Hydration. Dehydration can cause puffiness around your eyes. Drink at least eight glasses of water daily to drain excess toxins that can cause eye swells.
• Moisturizer. To give your skin a sound moisture barrier. The barrier will help prevent allergens from getting into the skin and causing eye puffs.
• Beauty products. Use eye-rollers to massage the tissue around your eyes and get rid of the puffy eyes.
• No yo-yo diets. Yo-yo diets are ones in which you lose weight then regain it from eating excess foods. The diet causes fat redistribution around your face and can cause puffy eyes.

Could Puffy Eyes Mean an Underlying Condition?

Puffy eyes usually clear after some time but only if it is because of a normal occurrence. If it is persistent, it could be a sign of an underlying eye condition, such as:

• Kidney failure
• Allergies
• Thyroid eye disease (inflammation of eyelids and eye muscles)
• The first sign of whole-body edema (swelling)
• Blocked tears ducts (blepharitis)

Prevention

There are several preventive measures you can try to keep puffy eyes at bay. Firstly, reduce your salt intake, which will facilitate the removal of fluids around your eyes.

Allergies are another common cause of puffy eyes. Treating the allergies will therefore help prevent eye bags. It is also essential to avoid taking alcohol to prevent puffy eyes. It makes your body lose water, causing eye puffiness.

References

1. Bags Under the Eyes . (August 2021). American Academy of Ophthalmology.
2. Emotional tears . (July 2009). Ophthalmologe.
3. Cucumber’s phytochemical and therapeutic potential . (2013 January). Fitoterapia, Vol 84., Pages 227-236.
4. Anti-inflammatory and potential antioxidant activity of extracts and formulations of witch hazel, rose, and white tea on primary human dermal fibroblast cells . (October 2011). Journal of Inflammation.
5. Topical Treatment of Under Eye Dark Circles and Swelling . (2015 February). ClinicalTrials.gov.
6. Cues of Fatigue: Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Facial Appearance . (2013 September). Sleep, Volume 36, Issue 9, Pages 1355-1360.
7. Ice compresses to aid the reduction of swelling and pain after scleral buckling surgery . (2016 November). Journal of Clinical Nursing.
8. How to Get Rid of Bags Under Your Eyes . (April 2021). Cleveland Clinic.
9. Eyelid Edema . (February 2007). Seminars in Plastic Surgery.
10. Alcohol: How Drinking Alcohol Affects Your Skin . (April 2020). MedicineNet.

Last Updated April 20, 2022

Note: This page should not serve as a substitute for professional medical advice from a doctor or specialist. Please review our about page for more information.

Further Reading

• Double Vision
• Scotoma
• Visual Snow
• Keratitis
• Cloudy Vision in One Eye
• Internal Hordeolum (Stye)
• Episcleritis
• Headache Behind Eyes
• Black Eye Treatment
• Eyelash Mites
• Eye Strain
• Eye Boogers

8 home remedies to reduce puffy eyes from crying

Crying can lead to puffy eyes. Some ways to reduce this puffiness include applying a cold compress, cucumber slices, or tea bags on the eyes. An option for longer-term reduction is making dietary changes.

Tears help keep the eyes comfortable and moist. It also washes out dust and debris. There are different types of tears, including emotional ones, that can lead to puffy eyes.

This article will discuss home remedies to reduce the appearance of puffy eyes from crying. It will also provide some tips on how to manage flushing and dryness.

A person may be able to reduce the appearance of puffy eyes with some of the following home remedies.

1. Applying a cold compress

Anything cold can help with inflammation and swelling, as it reduces blood flow . Therefore, a cold compress, ice pack, bag of vegetables, or even refrigerated or frozen spoons may work.

There are many cold compress eye masks available. Alternatively, a person can make their own cold compress by soaking a towel or washcloth in cold water and applying it to the eye area for 5–10 minutes at a time.

2. Applying cucumber

The image of cucumber slices on the eyes is infamous, but it can work when treating puffy eyes. Due to its high water content, cucumber hydrates the skin and reduces swelling , working in a similar way to a cold compress.

Cucumbers also have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity and contain vitamin K, which can help reduce dark circles.

3. Applying tea bags

The key ingredients in this natural remedy are caffeine and natural tannins. Tannins work as an astringent, which means that they can constrict body tissue. Caffeine can penetrate the skin barrier, has strong antioxidant properties, and increases blood circulation in the skin.

People may find that green tea, black tea, and chamomile tea bags all work. Chamomile, in particular, has high levels of antioxidants.

Simply steep the tea in warm water, then chill the bags in the refrigerator for a while. Place a tea bag on each eye for a few minutes.

4. Trying witch hazel

As a natural astringent and antioxidant, witch hazel has a tightening effect on the skin.

Simply soak cotton pads in cold witch hazel, making sure to squeeze out all the excess, and apply to the area for 5–10 minutes a couple of times per day. Take extra care to prevent getting witch hazel in the eye.

5. Using an eye roller

There are various eye roller options on the market that may help reduce puffiness, diminish dark circles, and offer anti-aging benefits.

Rollers are generally made of metal, and eye cooling gels can be applied through a rollerball. The device cools the area and provides a mini-massage to the under-eye area, which helps boost circulation.

6. Applying a face and eye cream

Many face and eye creams may help combat puffiness, cool down the eye area, and constrict blood vessels.

Creams may contain ingredients such as:

• retinol
• vitamin C
• phenylephrine
• hyaluronic acid

Look out for organic products that have not undergone testing in animals.

One 2023 study suggests that a topical eye cream containing a mixture of tetrahexyldecyl (THD) ascorbate (vitamin C), prebiotic inula helenium, bioavailable peptides, botanical extracts, chrysin, and caffeine can improve puffiness around the eyes.

7. Trying massage

Anecdotal sources suggest that a simple self-treatment is to use the fingers to gently massage the eye area.

People can run their fingers under ice-cold water, place the index finger on the bridge of the nose (under the brow), and massage along the under-eye area. Gently tap along the skin and use the middle fingers to get the blood circulating.

8. Changing the diet

Eating a healthy diet and staying hydrated may reduce the appearance of puffy eyes. For example, people can try the following:

• Hydration: Try to drink around eight to 10 glasses of water per day. Eat water-rich foods such as cucumbers, and plenty of other fruits and vegetables.
• Moderation: Avoid consuming too many alcoholic, caffeinated, or energy drinks. They act as diuretics and signal dehydration.
• Salt reduction: Cut back on salt in processed foods. Consuming additional sodium causes the body to retain water. Fluid retention may lead to eye puffiness.
• Parsley leaves: Anecdotal sources suggest eating parsley to help flush out toxins from the kidneys.
• Herbal tea: Although placing tea bags on the eyes can soothe puffiness, drinking herbal tea may also have benefits for the skin.

The eyes are always producing a certain amount of tears.

Tear fluid, which originates from the lacrimal gland, flows over the surface of the eye and drains out of the corners of the eyelids. Traveling through the tear ducts, the tears then empty through the nasal cavities.

Tears protect the surface of the eye and help remove debris from the eye.

There are three different types of tears:

• Basal tears: These are the basic, functional tears that are always in the eye. Basal tears lubricate and protect the cornea while keeping away dirt and debris.
• Reflex tears: These tears respond to irritation, such as foreign bodies, smoke, and onion scents. The eyes produce more reflex tears than basal tears, and they contain antibodies that help fight bacteria.
• Emotional tears: Strong feelings can trigger emotional tears. Emotional tears relate to attachment, physical pain, empathy, exhaustion, or compassion.

When a person cries with emotion, they can produce more tears than the lacrimal drainage system can cope with. This causes the tears to run out of the eyes and sometimes the nose.

Tissue around the eyes can then reabsorb the tears, making the area appear puffy.

The blood vessels dilate when a person cries, hence the flushing, redness, or discoloration that appears around the eyes.

Although many of the tips for reducing puffiness also apply to treating flushing, redness, and discoloration, there are specific color-reducing eye drops available to purchase. Eye serums and creams are also available.

The tears contain oil, water, and mucus, and each element acts to protect and nourish the eye. Excess tears flow into small drainage ducts in the eyelids, but when these elements become unbalanced, dry eyes can occur.

Dry eye treatments include over-the-counter artificial tear solutions, which can also be preservative-free.

While at home, remember to blink regularly, especially when working on a computer for an extended period of time. Wearing sunglasses in bright sunlight can offer further protection.

Below are some commonly asked questions about

How long do puffy eyes last after crying?

The duration of puffy eyes after crying can vary from person to person and depends on several factors, such as:

• individual physiology
• the intensity of the crying
• whether any home remedies were used to address the puffiness
• any underlying conditions

How can a person de-puff under their eyes after crying?

A person may be able to reduce the appearance of puffy eyes by:

• applying a cold compress to their eyes
• applying cucumber slices to their eyes
• applying tea bags to their eyes
• using an eye roller
• massaging the eye area
• drinking plenty of water

There are many home remedies that can reduce eye puffiness after crying, but it can be a case of trial and error to find the right method.

If the puffiness continues for an extended period of time, it might be worth seeing a doctor for advice.

Performing regular skin care routines and eating a healthful diet are the best steps for general eye care.

• Dermatology
• Dry Eye
• Eye Health / Blindness
• Complementary Medicine / Alternative Medicine

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Medical News Today has strict sourcing guidelines and relies on peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical journals and associations. We only use quality, credible sources to ensure content accuracy and integrity. You can learn more about how we ensure our content is accurate and current by reading our editorial policy.

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Medically reviewed by Cynthia Cobb, DNP, APRN, WHNP-BC, FAANP
Medically reviewed by Avi Varma, MD, MPH, AAHIVS, FAAFP
Medically reviewed by Vicente Diaz, MD, MBA

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© 2024 Healthline Media UK Ltd, Brighton, UK. All rights reserved. MNT is the registered trade mark of Healthline Media. Healthline Media is an RVO Health Company. Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a healthcare professional. See additional information.