Q: Good morning doctor. I have dark circles round my eyes. It first started to show when I moved to a very sunny environment and sometimes my eyes itch a lot and as a result of scratching it might swell. I don’t know whether to see a doctor. It makes me lose confidence.

A: The skin around the eye is very thin and as a result, any movement of fluid in or out of the area is very visible there. Typical examples are thedramatic sunken eyes when one is dehydrated (maybe from stooling) and the equally ‘gossip-worthy’ swollen eyes after a night of crying 

Usually in the body, fluid would move from an area of low salt concentration to an area of high salt concentration (osmosis). After crying, your salty tears are an attraction for fluids, which move from areas of low salt concentration to accumulate there. On…