Swollen eyelids can result from not getting the proper sleep the night before, or they can be a result of a medical condition. Puffy eyes can decrease your self-esteem and make it hard to apply makeup to your eye area. You can take steps to identify what is causing your swollen lids and to treat them or prevent it from occurring again.
Identify allergy triggers that cause your eyelids to swell. These triggers can be beauty products such as eye makeup, moisturizers, cleansers or even hairsprays. Seasonal allergies and high pollen counts can trigger swelling of the lids also. If you determine it is due to seasonal allergies, you can treat this problem with antihistamines, decongestants or steroid nasal sprays. If you feel the allergy is due to a beauty product, eliminate them one by one for a few days each to figure out what triggers this reaction.
Seek medical treatment if your eyelid swelling is accompanied by tearing, redness, itching or burning or you feel something is in your eye and you cannot locate it. You may have conjunctivitis (pink eye), blepharitis or other eye diseases. Some of these are quite common and easily treated, but can be very contagious, according to the eyecaresource.com website.
Wash your hands thoroughly before examining your eye area.
Avoid excess sodium in your diet and overindulging in alcohol. Both of these can lead to water retention which results in puffy eyelids. Placing a fresh slice of cold cucumber or a cold compress on your closed eyes first thing in the morning can reduce puffiness from water retention.