Periorbital dark circles

Periorbital dark circles (also known as dark circles) are dark blemishes around the eyes. There are many causes of this symptom, including heredity and bruising.

Causes

Heredity

In most cases, the dark circles under the eyes are blood vessels that can be seen through the skin. The skin around the eyelids (periorbital skin) is the thinnest skin in the body (around 0.5 mm thick compared with 2mm in other areas). Like varicose veins, dark circles under the eyes are usually an inherited trait. When blood passes through the large veins close to the surface of the skin, it can produce a bluish tint. The more transparent the skin—also an inherited trait—the darker the circles appear. In people with a deep-set bone structure, shadowing can also contribute to the dark color under the eyes.

Allergies, asthma, and eczema

Any condition that causes the eyes to itch can contribute to darker circles due to rubbing or scratching the skin around them. Hay fever sufferers in particular will notice under-eye "smudges" during the height of the allergy season. Some food allergies can also cause the area under the eyes to appear darker.

Dark circle (disambiguation)

Dark circle may refer to:

Dark Circle

The Dark Circle is a fictional criminal organization in that appears in comic books from DC Comics, primarily part of the Legion of Super-Heroes comic books. They first appeared in 1968, created by Jim Shooter as a criminal organization founded by five members and populated by a multitude of clones of the original five members.

The Dark Circle concept was later modified to consist of members from five core worlds instead of clones. A later version, after DC Comics rebooted their history, was led by Brainiac 4 and had several known Legion of Super-Heroes enemies among their ranks instead of the previous generic masked henchmen.

Fictional history

The Dark Circle first appeared in Adventure Comics #367 as an insurgent group planning to conquer the United Planets in the 30th century. It was composed of only five people and armies of clones created from those five people. The Dark Circle remained mostly shrouded in mystery, even with its defeat by the Legion of Super-Heroes.

They launched a direct invasion of Earth during the Legion's Adventure Comics run, following an attack by the Fatal Five that had left the Legion and Earth's defenses devastated, and were in the process of overwhelming both when Brainiac 5 discovered the Miracle Machine and used it to repulse the attack, returning all the Dark Circle soldiers to their homeworlds.