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Maybe you just watched the ending of a movie that gutted you, or you’re dealing with a breakup, or you’re overwhelmed after a long day. Whatever triggered it, you’ve been crying and now you’re dealing with the aftermath: puffy, swollen eyes that announce to everyone exactly what you’ve been doing.
The puffiness happens because crying causes fluid to pool around your eyes. Add in some rubbing (because of course you rubbed them) and dilated blood vessels, and you’ve got a face that looks like you went three rounds with a pillow. Here’s how to speed up the depuffing process.
1. Cold compress
Ice, frozen vegetables, cold cucumber slices, chilled tea bags, whatever’s cold and you can hold against your eyes. The cold constricts blood vessels and reduces inflammation, which means less visible swelling.
Hold it there for 10 minutes. If it starts to feel uncomfortable before that, take it off. Don’t tough it out and give yourself an ice burn on your eyelid, that’s trading one problem for a worse one.
Frozen peas work particularly well because they conform to your face shape. Just don’t eat them after.
2. Chilled spoons
This is the same principle as the cold compress, but more targeted. Stick two metal spoons in the freezer for 10-15 minutes, then hold the rounded backs against your closed eyes.
The metal conducts cold efficiently and the curved shape fits your eye socket. When the spoons warm up, swap them for another cold pair if you’ve got extras in the freezer.
This one’s good if you need to depuff fast before going somewhere, since it’s quick and you can do other things while holding spoons to your face. Well, limited things. But you can stand near the door and stress about being late while simultaneously treating your eyes.
3. Gentle massage
Use your ring fingers (they apply the least pressure) and tap or lightly massage from the inner corners of your eyes outward toward your temples. This helps move the fluid that’s pooled there.
Don’t press hard. Don’t drag your skin around. Just gentle, outward motions to encourage lymphatic drainage.
Some people’s skin reacts badly to being touched when it’s already irritated from crying. If that’s you, skip this one and stick with cold compresses.
4. Face roller
If you’ve got a jade or rose quartz face roller sitting in your bathroom because you bought into the skincare hype, this is its moment. Roll from the inner corner of your eye outward, always in one direction, never back and forth.
Keep it in the fridge so it’s cold when you use it. The rolling motion plus the cold temperature is more effective than either alone.
5. Eye cream with caffeine
Caffeine constricts blood vessels, which reduces puffiness. If you’ve got an eye cream that contains caffeine, vitamin C, or hyaluronic acid, put it in the fridge for a few minutes then apply it around your eyes.
This is not the time to experiment with a new product your skin hasn’t met before. Irritated skin plus unknown skincare ingredients can make things worse. Use something you’ve used before or skip it.
6. Sleep elevated
If you’re going to sleep after crying, prop yourself up with extra pillows. Sleeping flat lets fluid accumulate around your eyes overnight, so you wake up looking even puffier.
You don’t need to sleep sitting upright like you’re in a waiting room. Just elevate your head enough that gravity can do some of the drainage work while you sleep.
7. Drink water
Crying dehydrates you (you literally just leaked a bunch of water out of your face), and dehydration can actually make puffiness worse because your body holds onto whatever fluid it has.
Drink a full glass of water. Then another one.
8. Raw potato slices
Potatoes contain enzymes and starches that can help reduce inflammation. Cut two thin slices of raw potato, rinse them, and place them over your closed eyes for 10-15 minutes.
This one sounds like old-wives-tale territory, but the astringent properties in potatoes do help with swelling. Plus if you’re home alone and emotional, there’s something oddly grounding about lying there with potato slices on your face. Makes you feel slightly ridiculous, which can break the crying spiral.
9. Antihistamine
If your eyes are not just puffy but also itchy and irritated, there might be an allergy component making it worse. An over-the-counter antihistamine can help reduce that extra inflammation.
This is especially relevant if you’ve been crying into a pillow that hasn’t been washed in a while, or if you have seasonal allergies that are already making your eyes sensitive.
Puffy eyes from crying usually resolve on their own within a few hours. But if you need to look less obviously wrecked before then, cold plus time plus maybe some gentle drainage massage will get you there faster.
And if you wake up the next morning still puffy, repeat the cold compress routine. Sometimes your eyes just need to work through it overnight.