For many students, when exams are announced, a fear overcomes them. A sense of dread fills them and they panic. This is due in part because exams are a very stressful time for many students. The fear of getting a bad grade, or worse failing the exam forces the student to literally keep their nose in a book, studying hour after hour, for weeks on end.

Perhaps the worst part of knowing an exam is approaching. The pressure builds and it makes if difficult to concentrate on studying. To study successfully, and retain what you have read, requires extreme concentration. This is called productive studying. Believe it or not, it is not as easy as it sounds.

Many people find that the pressure of upcoming exams stunts their power of concentration. They are unable to focus on just one subject long enough to retain the information necessary to pass the exams. There are some steps that you can take to assist you in concentrating.

The first thing you should do is to find a quiet place to study. Do not sit in the living room with the television on, you will find yourself watching TV instead of studying. This is the number on distraction for teenagers. Another big distraction is trying to study with music on in the background. You need a quiet place where you will not be disturbed by siblings or normal household activities. Those who say they can study better with music on do not realize that they are actually creating a distraction for themselves.

When you find a quiet place to study, make sure that you will be comfortable and the lighting is adequate. You do not want to strain your eyes trying to read, it will only give you a headache. You also do not want to study in the cellar or garage; these places usually are musty and can distract you from studying from a subconscious level.

When you choose a place to study, it is not recommended that you study outdoors. On a beautiful spring day, you may find yourself taking a catnap instead of studying. Drinking a beverage that has caffeine in it may help you to stay awake. You are also chancing running into friends that may also distract you from studying. Choosing the perfect place to study is crucial to your concentration. It should be well lit and well ventilated, with nothing to stimulate your senses at all.

It is important that you study one subject at a time. You may also be hurting your chances of retaining what you have studied when it is time to take your exam you are risking failure. Studying multiple subjects at the same time will only aid in confusing you, and when you take your exam, you may get the subjects confused.

It is important that you develop good study habits in your early school years. As you go up in grades it will become more difficult because you will have more subjects to study. Concentration is the key to good study habits. These habits will follow you through your adult life. When you create good study habits, you are increasing power of concentration that is necessary in everyday life.

When it comes to dark circles or bags under the eyes most people assume that they are mainly caused by being tired or stressed out. They also assume that if they just get more sleep they will be rid of them. However this is not necessarily the case. Doctors have found that there are other causes.

Below are three common causes of dark circles under your eyes:

1. Nasal Congestion: Even though most people think that fatigue is the main cause of the dark circles, this is not necessarily true. The most common cause for under eye circles is nasal congestion. When your nasal passages are clogged or congested the veins that drain from your eyes into your nose become dilated and darker.

2. Eyelid Swelling: One other cause of under eye circles is the swelling of your eyelids during sleep. When you are lying down, gravity may cause fluid to collect in your lower eyelids and the swelling can create the appearance of shadows below your eyes.

3. Lack of Sleep or Fatigue: If you are consistently fatigued or are not getting enough sleep it can lead to your skin becoming pale – especially the delicate area under your eyes. It can enhance the blood flowing beneath your skin giving the appearance of dark circles under your eyes.

Most people get dark circles, bags or wrinkles under their eyes every now and then. However, some people can’t ever seem to get rid of them. If you have ever had dark circles under your eyes or bags under your eyes you may have felt like you were or are shouting out to the world that you there is something wrong with you, that you are sick, that your looks are fading or that you are older than you really are. The truth of the matter is that, dark circles and wrinkles make you can make you look exhausted, old, depressed or ill.

You don’t have to be embarrassed by dark circles or bags under your eyes anymore. Clear and beautiful skin is on its ways because serious relief is here in Hydroxatone® Hydrolyze’s Under Eye Treatment.

In scientific studies, Hydrolyzes main active ingredient, Haloxyl™, has been shown to help reduce the blood that is leaked under the skin by using a series of natural enzymes that break down the blood and cause the dark circles to fade. In fact, Haloxyl™ is so effective because it actually helps strengthen the capillaries to help prevent them from leaking in the first place.

This product has been tested in clinical trails and in n a double-blind trial more than 72% of the women who had serious dark circles and used Haloxyl™ saw visible reduction in the dark circles under their eyes. These findings were also confirmed with the use of high-speed laboratory photography. This photography clearly showed a significant reduction in the appearance of the blue and red color that make up these dark eye circles.

Hydroxatone® Hydrolyze is so effective at making your eyes look more refreshed and a whole lot younger because in addition it includes one of the most effective wrinkle reducing compounds that has ever been produced, Matrixyl™ 3000. Due to its advanced wrinkle fighting technology, this clinically proven compound actually stimulates collagen production to help reduce the appearance of visible deep wrinkles by 68% and increase the firmness of your skin after only two months. All natural Hydroxatone® Hydrolyze was designed to be safe and gentle enough for everyday use.

Blepharoplasty is a plastic surgical operation done on the eyelids to remove loose skin or hooding of the upper eyelids and also to remove “bags” from the lower eyelids. Blepharoplasty is one of the most common plastic surgery operations done in the United States and has traditionally been done on people over 40 who feel their eyes have aged and are making them look older or tired.

Recently however, many younger people, many in their early 20″s are seeking Blepharoplasty to correct “dark circles under the eyes” and unfortunately the traditional blepharoplasty operation as performed by many plastic surgeons can actually worsen the appearance of dark circles under the eyes and even create a “hollow eyed” appearance. If this happens the eyes look worse than the dark circles that prompted the decision to have a blepharoplasty in the first place.

If this hollowed eyed appearance is created, especially in a younger person in their 20’s it is a serious problem which could require further reconstructive surgery to replace fat which was removed from the lower eyelid during the blepharoplasty surgery.

Dark circles under the eyes are a very common complaint, affect all races and both sexes, and are noticed often throughout life from early childhood. However concern about dark circles under the eyes seems to increase as people enter their 20’s and begin to be concerned about facial aging. The eyelids are the first part of the face where aging changes are seen and the first complaint most people voice is that “people say I look tired and I am not”.

What Causes Dark Circles Under The Eyes?

First, it is very important to distinguish what is meant by “dark circles under the eyes” from the normal dark color of the eyelid skin which is present in all people. Look at any face and study the eyelid skin and you will notice that the lower eyelid skin is a darker color that the skin of the cheek and the rest of the face.

There is a very simple reason for this: the skin of the lower eyelid is the thinnest skin on the face. The lower eyelid skin averages 593 microns thick whereas on the chin for example the skin averages 2544 microns-thus the lower eyelid skin on average is 4 to 5 times thinner than the skin on other areas. The lower eyelid skin is so thin that you can actually see the color of the eyelid muscle which lies directly below the skin. The color of this eyelid muscle is actually purple, thus the dark color of the eyelid skin usually has a bluish or purplish hue. The presence of small blue veins in the eyelids of many people also contribute to the dark color.

Dark lower eyelid skin color CANNOT BE CORRECTED BY A BLEPHAROPLASTY. The blepharoplasty removes fat and sometimes skin, but the skin of the lower eyelid remains covering the dark muscle and the color remains after blepharoplasty. Also LASER TREATMENTS CANNOT CORRECT NORMAL DARK LOWER EYELID SKIN COLOR. Lasers only remove pigment caused by sun damage-they do not go deep enough to effect the color caused by the muscle color beneath the skin. Worse laser treatments can de-pigment
the eyelid skin and cause a white “raccoon “appearance to the eyelids.

Dark Circles Under The Eyes are very different from dark eyelid skin color and are caused by a very different mechanism. Dark circles under the eyes refers to a depression or shadow under the lower eyelid, right above the bone of the eye socket and which begins at the corner of the lower eyelid next to the nose and runs along the rim of the eye socket out toward the side of the cheek.

The medical term for the dark circle under the eye is the Nasojugal Fold. As we grow older the dark circle under the eye becomes deeper and longer and runs down and out into the cheek. This deeper, longer dark circle under the eye is called the Tear Trough Deformity—because tears run into the dark circle and out to the side of the cheek, instead of rolling straight down the cheek as they do when we cry as a child.

What actually causes the dark circle under the eye, or nasojugal fold, is that the lower eyelid skin of the dark circle is tightly connected to the bone of the eye socket unlike the skin of the rest of the lower eyelid which is simply attached to the eyelid muscle and the fat underneath the lower eyelid. As we age the eyelid skin above the dark circle begins to sag, as does the fat beneath the skin, and the lower eyelid above the dark circle (nasojugal fold) begins to fall over the dark circle and create a dark shadow.

Thus the dark circle under the eye is actually a shadow created by the adherance of the lower eyelid skin to the bone of the eye socket.

The attachment of the dark circle to the eye socket bone is caused by a small ligament called the ARCUS MARGINALLIS which is a small structure beneath the dark circle which ties the dark circle skin to the bone of the eye socket.

To remove dark circles under the eyes, the arcus marginalis must be released so the dark circle skin will not be tethered to the bone, and the shadow can disappear. In addition, fat is transplanted and placed on top of the bone to plump the dark circle and lessen the shadow.

Why Blepharoplasty Can Make Dark Circles Worse.

Traditional blepharoplasty of the lower eyelid involves making an incision below the eyelashes and removing skin and fat from the lower eyelid. While this operation does remove loose skin and puffy fat bags, this operation weakens the support of the lower eyelid and after traditional scalpel blepharoplasty many people are left with a sad eyed look or hound dog eyes where the outside of the lower eyelid towards the side of the face turns down.

More modern blepharoplasty uses a transconjunctival incision-that is through the inside pink portion of the lower eyelid called the conjunctiva (trans=across, conjunctival=conjunctiva the pink inside the eyelid=across the conjunctiva). The benefit of the transconjunctival blepharoplasty is that there is no visible scar on the eyelid, and more importantly, the lower eyelid is not weakened and the eyelid shape is not changed, therefore no “sad eyed look” or “hound dog eyes’

Both of these blepharoplasty techniques however do not correct dark circles because nothing is done to release the arcus marginalis which is causing the dark circle in the first place. In fact, when fat is removed from the lower eyelid during a traditional blepharoplasty, a hollowed out appearance can be created which actually makes the dark circle look worse.

Transconjunctival Blepharoplasty with arcus marginalis release and fat grafting corrects dark circles under the eyes.

The most modern, effective blepharoplasty technique is the transconjunctival blepharoplasty with release of the arcus marginalis and fat grafting over the bone which lies beneath the dark circle. This procedure truly eliminates the dark circle under the eye by releasing the tethering of the dark circle and plumping the dark circle skin to eliminate the shadow we call the dark circle under the eye or the nasojugal fold.

During the procedure the arcus marginalis is released and a small amount of the fat (which is causing the puffiness of the lower eyelid) is removed and transplanted back into the lower eyelid over the eye socket bone beneath the dark circle.

Some surgeons place an artificial rubber implant called a tear trough implant under the dark circle instead of fat, but I prefer to use fat-it’s the bodies own tissue, it is softer, more natural, and gives a better result in my hands.

I do this operation with a laser, the laser blepharoplasty causes less bleeding, less bruising, is much quicker and down time is much less. In my opinion, less bleeding with the laser means the operation is much safer as bleeding is the most dangerous complication of blepharoplasty.

These techniques are new and not all plastic surgeons have learned or adopted them. It is very important for people who are considering blepharoplasty ask the right questions of the doctor they consult to make certain their surgeon is up to date.

Be Informed

Properly performed modern eyelid rejuvenation surgery can produce excellent results safely. Dark circles under the eyes can be corrected but only if the proper surgical techniques are used by a skilled, board certified plastic surgeon who is up to date in his/her training. In today’s world many imp0roperly trained medical and non-medical practitioners are attempting to perform blepharoplasty often with disastrous results.

You, the consumer need to be educated and aware. You do not want to seek eyelid rejuvenation, have a blepharoplasty and end up looking worse than you did when you started and possible ending up with a deformity which can actually damage your eye and require significant reconstructive surgery.

In Chapter 10 of my book “Save Your Face” which is titled “Don’t Let Just Anyone Touch Your Face” I give detailed recommendations on how to choose a plastic surgeon, what questions you must ask, and a list of “Red Flags” which should caution you to seek consultation from a second physician. If you want to read further details of how to remove dark circles you may find several articles athttp://saveyourface.com/askdoc/category/dark-circles-under-eyes/

A modern transconjunctival laser blepharoplasty with arcus marginalis release and fat grafting can remove dark circles under the eyes, but you must find a reputable, skilled, experienced surgeon if you want the best, safe result.