I came across an old study from 2004 in which 57 Japanese adults with dark circles and under eye wrinkles were given a gel with "2% phytonadione, 0.1% retinol, 0.1% vitamin C and 0.1% vitamin E ".
The results: "Topical application of the gel decreased not only haemostasis but also wrinkles after 8 weeks of treatment. Of 57 patients, 27 (47%) had reductions in haemostasis. Wrinkles were also decreased in some patients. However, pigmentation was not clearly removed by this gel."
Some of you may know that i've been struggling with pretty bad dark circles for a good few years. I'm 33 and my skin type is fair. I spent quite a number of years underweight and I'm fairly sure a lack of subcutaneous fat is big contributor to my problem along with thin skin (maybe).
This is really the only study i've ever seen that claims to have produced good results when it comes to dark circles. If there are any others I'd love to see them.
So anyway, I googled the ingredients, looking for a similar gel/cream and found that phytonadione is vitamin k (correct me if im wrong on that). The closest I got was this stuff by ageless derma:
http://www.amazon.co...s=Ageless Derma
It's a retinol and vitamin k cream with vit E and C too. In fact, they cite the same study and it seems like they've just tried to replicate the ingredients. There are some great reviews on amazon... and some bad ones. But then it only worked on half the people in the study so that makes sense.
Any thoughts, anyone? Any risk with putting retinol round the eyes?
