The first step to knowing how to find the best medical grade eye creams and serums for your eye concerns is to figure out what eye problems you have, which ingredients to look for in an eye cream, and which undereye creams to use in the morning and night. In this blog, I will tell you the same tips that I give my patients in my dermatology practice in Miami. We are good about protecting our eye skin with sunglasses, but the eye skin is thin and needs extra protection.

This guide will help you choose an eye cream or serum, but if you have not taken the skin type quiz- we suggest you go here first. 

The quiz will give you a list of eye creams and serums from many brands to choose from.

Whether you chose by price, brand, or preferences such as all natural- you can be confident these are right for your skin type.

Here is a guide to help you choose the best eye creams and serums for your skincare routine.

There are five main types of medical grade eye creams designed to treat different eye concerns.. Choose which of these issues is most important to you.  I suggest treating dryness and inflammation first and once that is under control, focusing on  skin aging and eye puffiness. In some cases you may find one eye cream that treats all your eye concerns, but in most cases you will need one eye cream in your morning routine and a different one at night. 

Anti-aging eye creams are the best eye creams for wrinkles and crow's feet. These anti-wrinkle under eye wrinkle creams generally contain ingredients like:

• peptides
• retinol
• growth factors
• antioxidants
• exosomes
• heparan sulfate 

Peptides and humectants temporarily smooth away lines, wrinkles, and other signs of aging in the eye area. Retinoids and hydroxyacids help get rid of wrinkles long term but can be irritating to some skin types. Retinol containing eye cream and serums should be used at  night.

To learn more about antiaging ingredients- click here.

Hydroxyacid eye creams can help to reduce wrinkles, sun damage, and other signs of skin aging. However, you should not use these products unless you are a resistant skin type and your skin has no sensitivity or redness,  Hydroxy acids like glycolic acid can cause dryness, flaking, and irritation, especially when used in the delicate eye area. I would prefer that you use a retinol around the eyes for antiaging purposes,

Retinol is one of the best antiaging ingredients. It should always be used at night. Be very careful with retinol and follow these how to use retinol directions to avoid retinol side effects. 

The best eye creams for dull, dry and dehydrated skin have humectant and occlusive moisturizing ingredients.

Hydrating eye creams for dry eyelid skin contain moisturizing ingredients to hydrate and plump the thin skin around your eyes. This helps to improve the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles caused by dehydration. Eye creams will be more hydrating for you than eye serums.

If you have dry skin around your eyes, look for eye creams with these ingredients:

• ceramides
• fatty acids
• glycerin
• heparan sulfate
• hyaluronic acid
• oils

These are more examples of hydrating eye creams that I recommend:

The best eye creams for sensitive skin and eczema should have anti-inflammatory soothing ingredients like green tea, bisabolol, panthenol and green tea.

 My rosacea patients often have red eyelids, as this is a symptom of rosacea, and need eye creams and serums safe for rosacea prone skin. The best eye creams and serums for rosacea and blepharitis contain anti-inflammatory ingredients to calm redness and soothe stinging, burning, or other signs of irritation.

 If you have allergic skin, eye creams that are labeled as hypoallergenic are great choices, as this ensures they do not contain the most common allergens. 

The best eye creams for sensitive allergic skin should have minimal fragrances and preservatives and as few allergens as possible.

These eye creasm are good if you are allergic to fragrances:

These eye creams are good if you are allergic to parabens or other preservatives:

These eye creams are good if you are allergic to formaldehyde and formaldehyde releasing agents.

 Under-eye dark circles, also called racoon eyes, are one of the most common cosmetic complaints among many skin types. To lighten dark under eye circles, choose a brightening eye cream that contains one or more of these types of ingredients:

•  tyrosinase inhibitors
•  anti-inflammatories
•  PAR-2 inhibitors

 All of these ingredients work to prevent melanin production and therefore lighten dark spots and circles.

Learn more about the causes and treatment of dark circles under the eyes here.

Here are the best dark circle eye creams:

The best eye cream for bags and puffiness should have eye bag shrinking astringents.  If you have puffy eyes, use an anti-puff eye product at night because puffiness is usually worse when you wake up in the morning. This will help prevent fluid accumulation under the eyes at night. Under-eye puffiness is caused by an accumulation of lymph fluid, or water retention, in the tissue under your eyes. 

To get rid of puffiness, use an eye cream that contains anti-inflammatory ingredients and caffein and astringents to reduce puffiness. 

Here are our favorite anti-puffiness eye creams:

Don't forget to protect your eyelids in the sun so you can prevent wrinkles around the eyes and sagging of your eyelids.  These are some good SPF prodcuts for the eye area.

There is a wide variety of eye creams and serums designed specifically for the eye area. When deciding on an eye cream vs an eye serum, consider your Baumann Skin Type®. Creams are thicker with more lipids and are more hydrating than eye serums, which have a gel-like consistency. If you have dry skin, you will prefer an eye cream which hydrates fine lines under the eyes and plumps them. If you have very dry skin, choose a barrier repair eye cream. If eye creams make your eyes puffy, choose a eye serum instead. You do not want to use a hydrating eye cream because this will make puffiness worse. Instead choose an eye serum. Oily skin types often prefer the feel of an eye serum. There is no reason to use both an eye serum and an eye cream at the same time. They just dilute each other and reduce efficacy of both. If you want to use both an eye cream and an eye serum, use one in the am and one in the pm.

Are you having eye irritation from side effects of facial medications such as acne medications and skin cancer treatments.? Applying an eye cream first can help prevent imiquimod side effects.

Do you have eczema around the eyes or eyelid dermatitis? Choose a barrier repair eye cream to protect delicate eye skin. Use this eye cream am and pm. A serum is not hydrating enough if you have eczema around the eyes.

First- know your skin type so you know which eye cream ingredients to avoid and which to use. In general, if your eye burn from eye creams, avoid witch hazel, ascorbic acid, hydroxy acid, retinol, avobenzone sunscreen, essential oils and fragrances in eye creams. Fragrances, including those derived from natural ingredients, are often irritating to the skin, especially in the delicate eye area. Similarly, some dyes, preservatives, and other common allergens can irritate eye-area skin, especially in rosacea prone skin types. Choose a hypoallergenic eye cream if your skin tends to react negatively to many common ingredients.

When beginning a retinoid in your nighttime skin care regimen, avoid retinol and hydroxy acids in eye creams until you are already acclimated to high-strength retinol use every night.

The skin around the eyes is particularly delicate and sensitive, making it more susceptible to irritation and adverse reactions. Fragrances, whether natural or synthetic, can potentially cause redness, itching, or even allergic reactions when applied near the eyes. By opting for a fragrance-free eye cream, you minimize the risk of irritation and ensure that the product is gentle enough for the fragile eye area. Additionally, fragrance-free formulas are less likely to cause watery eyes or exacerbate existing sensitivities, allowing you to focus on the beneficial ingredients that target your specific eye concerns without unnecessary irritants.

Many chemical sunscreens can burn the eyes and make them water. One of the worst is avobenzone. So avoid eye creams that have avobenzone. It can also go by these other names on the label:

• Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane
• Parsol 1789
• Eusolex 9020
• Escalol 517
• Neo Heliopan 357
• Uvinul BMBM
• Parsol BMDM
• Eusolex 9020
• Parsol 5000
• 4-tert-Butyl-4'-methoxydibenzoylmethane
• 1-(4-tert-Butylphenyl)-3-(4-methoxyphenyl)propane-1,3-dione
• 4-tert-butyl-4'-methoxydibenzoylmethane
• 1-[4-(1,1-Dimethylethyl)phenyl]-3-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1,3-propanedione
• t-Butyl methoxy dibenzoylmethane
• Dibenzoylmethane, 4-methoxy-4'-tert-butyl-

Note that avobenzone is the most common and widely recognized name for this ingredient in the context of sunscreens and SPF products.

Although retinol is found in many antiaging eye creams for men and women, it can be very irritating for sensitive skin types.  If you have dry eyes, red eyes, or stinging eyes, do not use eye creams or serums with retinol or retinyl linoleate, retinyl palmitate, or retinaldehyde.

The best eye cream for you will depend on your Baumann Skin Type® and your specific skin concerns. For example, is your main concern lines and wrinkles, sun damage, redness, or dehydration, or are you simply looking to prevent these problems from arising in the future? Once you know your Baumann Skin Type, you can work with our STS approved skin care experts to treat the eye area with Botox or other cosmetic procedures.

Take the skin type quiz to see which eye products are suited to your Baumann Skin Type.

Never use an eye cream or an eye serum at the same time because you are wasting money and reducing the effectiveness of both products. However, you may choose to use one in the am and one in the pm. These are the factors to consider when deciding which eye product to use in the am and which to use in the pm:

Do you wear makeup? If so, choose the eye products that make your concealer go on smoother in the am.  To find an eye product to mix with concealer, look for eye serums and creams with humectants like:

• hyaluronic acid'
• glycerin
• honey
• saccharides
• sorbitol
• propylene glycol

Think of your eye cream or eye serum as a primer for under eye wrinkles. Choosing the right eye product will help to stop concealer from settling in creases and lines. It is hard to say which is best to go under concealer- a serum or a cream- because it depends upon the characteristics of the eye products and the ingredients in the concealer. So- we recommend trying several different ones to find which eye serum is best to prevent makeup from caking.

These eye products work well under or mixed with a concealer.

Are you using a retinoid at night? If yes- choose an eye cream for night that will protect your delicate from retinol and other retinoids that get on the pillow and transfer to thin eye lid skin. This can cause eyelid irritation from retinoids. 

Using an eye cream before applying retinol can help you tolerate retinoids at night. Choose one of the hydrating eye creams mentioned above.

There are many good medical grade eye creams to choose from.  Your best bet is to take the quiz and see which eye creams and serums are the best to use in your custom skincare routine.

1. Baumann L. Antiaging Ingredients in Ch. 37 of Baumann's Cosmetic Dermatology Ed 3. (McGraw Hill 2022)
2. Baumann, L. Ch.  Cosmeceuticals and Cosmetic Ingredients (McGraw Hill 2015)
3. Freitag, F. M., & Cestari, T. F. (2007). What causes dark circles under the eyes?. Journal of cosmetic dermatology, 6(3), 211-215.
4. Goldman, A., Goldust, M., & Wollina, U. (2021). Periorbital hyperpigmentation—Dark circles under the eyes; treatment suggestions and combining procedures. Cosmetics, 8(2), 26.
5. Roh, M. R., & Chung, K. Y. (2009). Infraorbital dark circles: definition, causes, and treatment options. Dermatologic surgery, 35(8), 1163-1171.
6. Vrcek, I., Ozgur, O., & Nakra, T. (2016). Infraorbital dark circles: a review of the pathogenesis, evaluation and treatment. Journal of cutaneous and aesthetic surgery, 9(2), 65.