Iry Chang is sick of people telling her she looks exhausted. She gets enough sleep, but the dark circles under her eyes still elicit stares and make her look much older than her 25 years.

'Anyone who has dark circles knows how it feels,' says Chang, who started www.mydarkcirclesblog.com, which posts articles and web links about the latest remedies and clinical treatments for dark circles.

'They're quite annoying. When I look in the mirror, all I see is someone who looks very tired.'

She has occasionally used concealer on the discoloration. But now that dozens of beauty companies, including Clinique and Shiseido, make potions to treat dark circles and not just mask them, she hopes to be able to look refreshed without using make-up.

In recent years, the drumbeat against under-eye circles has grown louder.

'Dark circles around the eyes can be unsightly,' declares one advertisement for a Medik8 eye cream.

An advertisement for Hylexin cream features a pale model with black stripes under her eyes like a football player for dramatic effect.

'It has become one of our top imperatives now to address dark circles,' says Dr Tom Mammone, executive director of research and development for Clinique.

Roughly 53 per cent of the 13,000 Clinique users surveyed by the company in 2006 cited under-eye circles and puffiness as their No. 1 beauty concern.

'We were really shocked,' says Dr Mammone, who has a PhD in molecular and cellular biology.

'We knew many of our people in distribution and sales suggested that it was a concern, but we didn't really know until the survey that it was a major issue.'

Sephora now sells more than 50 products designed to specifically treat under-eye circles, says Stacy Baker, the chain's editorial director.

Sales of anti-ageing skincare treatments, which include products designed to get rid of dark circles, increased to US$1.08 billion (S$1.47 billion) in 2006, up from US$588 million in 2001, according to Mintel, a market research firm.

Taming dark circles is tricky.

'There are a lot of factors that contribute to quote-unquote dark circles,' says Dr Diane Berson, an assistant professor of dermatology at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University in Manhattan. 'It's a combination of heredity and genetics.'

Most people think dark circles are a tell-tale sign of tiredness or the unsightly evidence of a binge involving one too many margaritas.

That is true to a certain extent as fatigue makes skin dull and drinking alcohol dehydrates and thins the skin.

But the most likely culprit causing chronic dark circles, dermatologists say, is excess pigmentation in the skin. Dark circles are prevalent on all skin colours and types, but they especially trouble African-Americans, South-east Asians and Southern Italians.

Beach bunnies should note: Sun exposure exacerbates dark circles.

Dilated blood vessels that sit close to the thin under-eye skin are another cause, doctors say.

Ageing, which causes skin to thin, can darken the eye area, as can certain medications such as birth control pills which can dilate blood vessels.

The problem is that few, if any, of the creams on the market are formulated for people with excess pigmentation or dilated veins.

'Multiple creams are available, however it is unclear how effective they are,' says Dr John A. Persing, a professor and the chief of plastic surgery at the Yale University School of Medicine.

For people who aren't sure why they have dark circles, he recommends topical products that contain a plumping agent or alphahydroxy acids, which can thicken the skin, or vitamins C and K, which can inflame skin and add volume.

But considering the glut of products on the market with a variety of active ingredients, he says: 'If there are that many of them available, that usually means they're not terribly successful.'

Clinique, which now has three products to treat dark circles, uses whey protein in its All About Eyes Rich cream (US$27.50) because it increases collagen production, says Dr Mammone.

But in independent medical research, whey protein has not been proven to plump up skin. (Clinique is also experimenting with various peptides, or linked amino acids, to treat dark circles.)

Shiseido White Lucent Brightening Eye Treatment (US$50) uses vitamin C, which minimises melanin, and chestnut rose extract, which thickens skin's texture, according to Blair Bloom, the company's executive director of education and training.

For more than 12 years, a kind of laser surgery that resurfaces skin and destroys pigment cells was the only recourse for those bothered by under-eye discoloration. But it was painful and took weeks to heal.

Even though newer laser technology tackles less surface at a time, ample recovery time is still needed.

So in the last three years, plumping up the area under the eyes with injections of off-label fillers like Restylane and Juvederm has become a popular alternative for people who want little downtime.

Plastic surgeons and dermatologists say the fillers help cover up melanin or the blood vessels that peek through thin skin. A round of injections, which lasts about six months, costs US$500 to US$800.

Patients have long complained about dark circles, but aside from surgery, there used to be few options, says Dr Z. Paul Lorenc, a Manhattan plastic surgeon who participated in clinical trials for the filler Restylane.

These days, he estimates that 20 per cent of his patients ask about fillers for their dark circles.

Fillers are not risk-free. Side effects can include bruising, swelling and allergic reactions.

Although Annette Pucci, 48, chalks up the dark circles under her eyes to genetics, she still tried 'every cream in the world', including eye formulations by Chanel and Lancome.

'I paid a fortune for this stuff and I didn't really see a difference - ever,' she says. 'It was horrible. I always felt like I looked tired all the time or like I was crying.'

After a friend mentioned she was going to use fillers to treat her dark circles, Pucci also had Restylane injections, in November.

'I was a little sceptical,' she says. But she adds that her circles have disappeared, all with little downtime.

'I just put on an ice pack and went to my son's baseball game that night,' says Pucci, who is one of Dr Lorenc's patients.

'I'm going to be 49 in August and now people ask me if I'm in my 30s,' she says.

One could argue that dark circles are yet another problem foisted into the spotlight by beauty companies with profit margins in mind.

But considering the attention that discoloration in the eye area attracts compared with, say, an off-colour elbow patch, perhaps being self-conscious about dark circles can be forgiven.

'Since I'm in sales and in front of clients, I want to look polished,' said Alison Butler, 32, a sales director from Boston.

But none of the countless creams she has tried have vanquished her dark circles, she says. Neither has staying hydrated.

Still, she could not help buying a US$53 eye serum from Caudalie.

'I'm willing to pay a little more and be a little more selective,' she says, 'since I've tried so many in the past.'

NEW YORK TIMES

This article was first published in Urban, The Straits Times on July 10, 2008.