PSA: This Is How To Gua Sha Around The Eye Area, According To Experts & Dermatologists

The place I struggle with the most is around my eyes. On any given day, I deal with everything from morning-time puffy eyelids to dark undereye circles to crow's feet to sagging. So I am always looking for solutions to keep my eyes looking lifted, smooth, and bright.

On the other hand, the eye area is famously delicate and fragile, so it's important to treat the area appropriately. This puts me in a tough position: I want effective solutions but need them to be gentle so as not to incur damage in the process. 

Given my frustration with my own eye area, I actually asked holistic beauty expert Katey Kristabelle, founder of Mindful Beauty, to give me tips on how to gua sha around the eye. Kristabelle is an esthetician, certified nutrition coach, and integrative massage therapist—making her uniquely qualified to discuss the intricacies of skin health. She's also a top expert in facial stones and gua sha. Needless to say, she's a great person to have in your back pocket for skin care advice. 

Kristabelle starts with a little anatomy lesson. "The orbicularis muscle has an outer orbital part and an inner part. When we're doing our gua sha routine, we don't want to be right up in the fat pad area of the eye," she says, pointing to the area just under the inner corner of the eye. "And we also have to consider that the eye and the skin around the eye is a lot more delicate than the skin on the rest of the face. So we always want to maintain gentle pressure." 

But thin, delicate skin is not the only thing that makes the eye area unique and prone to signs of aging. The eye muscles also require special attention: "If you look at the shape of the muscle [around the eye], it's kinda like a scrunchie. Over time the muscles can restrict, condense, and shrink. So we want to elongate and open those muscles," she says. "[With gua sha we can] open this area and lift it up."

In the video (to the left), she shows us how to do that in one simple move. 

"I'm going to take my gua sha stone," she says, using a jade stone (if you're looking for a great beginner stone, this Lanshin Intro Gua Sha Tool is similar to the one she uses in the video). She places the stone flat against her face, under the eye. And with a finger from the other hand, she places it gently on the skin, near the tear duct. She then starts sliding the stone toward the temple with the finger in place. 

Eastern medicine and skin care expert Debbie Kung, DAOM, LAc, also notes that the eye area is uniquely sensitive and fragile. This means it requires extra product for lubrication. 

For puffy eyes, the old-school trick of using a cold tool (be that chilled spoons or a gua sha stone kept in the fridge) really does work. Here''s how: Cool temperatures constrict your blood vessels (a process known as vasoconstriction), which can help reduce swelling. 

While it's important to be extra cautious around the eye area, there's still a lot you can do to help lift and tone the area. That includes these tips from skin care experts on gua sha and facial massage.