Formulation and Evaluation of Herbal Eye Patches for Under - Eye Hydration and Dark Circles Reduction

1. 1. What are dark circles? 

Dark circles are the under-eye skin problem, which is the most common beauty problem. This problem loses our self-confidence and makes us feel worse. These dark circles give us an appearance of tiredness, weakness and illness. It is mainly causes due to the sleepless nights and extreme use of mobile phones. Nowadays, mobiles are the main cause of eye damage because the radiation released from the phone directly affects the eyes. The area near the skin is very sensitive and thin, and blood passing through the veins has a bluish tinge. When melanin is produced in high amounts, it causes dark circles. People also experience the discomfort of the eyes due to illness, dry eyes, and environmental factors. People also used the ointments and eye drops, but this may cause side effects like irritation and swelling. This herbal eye patch hydrates the skin and overcomes side effects. _{[6,30,23,4,1]}

• 2. What are eye patches? 
• Herbal eye patches are the most commonly used herbal cosmetics to treat dark circles and under-eye hydration.
• It provides the brightening of the under-eye skin and also feels relaxation and comfort to the eye. These are the treatment to treat under eye dark skin. _[6,14]
• These patches used natural ingredients to avoid toxic chemicals. _[7,26]
• These eye Patches are designed for the lighting of skin, hydration under the eye, reduce puffiness. _[14,20]
• Hydrogel eye patches are made from the hydrophilic polymer matrix, which holds the max amount of water and active ingredient. This patch includes ingredients such as agar agar powder, distilled water and coffee powder. _[10,8,5]
• These patches are flexible, jelly-like, and easily stick under the eye. _[10,12]
  3. Hydrogel-based moulded eye patch:
• These are the jelly-like moulded eye patches which adhense on skin. These are the lightweight cooling effects of the eye patch. _[10,9]
• In a hydrogel eyepatch, agar agar powder is used for flim forming agent, which enhances the elasticity and smooth texture of eye patches. _[20,10]

Prepared Eye Patches In Laboratories.

2. Need and Objective:
   1. Aim: Formulation and Evaluation of Herbal Eye Patches for Under-Eye Hydration and Dark Circles Reduction.
   2. Objective of the study:

• Formulation of a herbal eye patch for safe and effective application for sensitive under-eye skin.
• Preparation of eye patches using herbal ingredients. _[19,25]
• Film-forming Agents: Adheres well to the skin and creates a smooth and elastic layer. _[8,5]
• Evaluation of the effectiveness of herbal active Ingredients (eg: coffee powder, beetroot extract). _[1,4,22]
• Provides cooling, hydration and relief from tiredness of the eyes.
• Moisturising and Hydrating: a polymer such as agar agar powder helps retain moisture and keep skin hydrated. _[5,20]
• Access parameters like pH, viscosity, stability, uniformity, and thickness. _[8,12]
• To evaluate improvement in hydration and reduction of non-eye wrinkles. _[23,5]

3. Herbal ingredients used in the formulation:
   1. Agar agar powder:

Agar agar powder is used as a gelling agent for formulating herbal eye Patches. Agar agar powder is obtained from red algae (seaweed). It contains a high amount of polysaccharides to form a gel-like consistency. _[2,10,5]

1. 2. Distilled water:

It is an important base ingredient for the formulation of herbal eye patches. During the formulation, distilled water is purified by boiling the water at 80-90°C, which gives a safe, effective and stable herbal formulation. _[10,12]

1. 3. Coffee powder:

Coffee is derived from the beans of the coffee plant (eg: Coffea arabica, Coffea canephora). It is used as an antioxidant. Coffee improves blood circulation under the eyes, which reduces dark circles. It also hydrates the Under-Eye skin. _[1,22,11]

4. Methodology:

Ingredients used in the Formulation: (100gm batch preparation)

5. Methodology for preparing a hydrogel eye patch

Material required:

• Agar Agar powder 
• Distilled water
• Coffee powder

Apparatus required:

• Beaker
• Stirrer
• Clean gloves 
• Water bath 
• Thermometer 
• Measuring cylinder

Ingredients Used For The Formulation Of Eye Patches.

6. Procedure:

 Extraction of coffee:

1. Grinding

Coffee beans are ground to increase surface area.

Finely grounded coffee beans.

2. Water Heating:

Ideal temperature: 90–96°C

Too hot → bitter taste

Too cold → weak extraction

3. Brewing / Extraction:

Hot water passes through coffee grounds.

Soluble compounds dissolve into water:

Acids (first)

Sugars (middle)

Bitters (last)

4. Filtration / Separation:

      Grounds are separated using:

Filter paper

Metal mesh

Cloth filter

7. Process of eye patch preparation

1. Weigh all ingredients:

Weigh all the ingredients accurately 

Weigh 2 g of agar agar powder.

In a measuring cylinder, take 98ml of water accurately.

Take coffee powder 0.5gm   

2. Preparation of base: 

• Take 98 ml of distilled water.
• Heat the distilled water in a beaker up to 80-90°C on a water bath 
• Then add agar agar powder, stir the mixture for at least f 5 min until the agar agar powder is fully dissolved.
• Then add coffee powder 0.5 gm to it.
• Remove the mixture beaker from the water bath.  

3. Moulding of eye patch:

• Pour the mixture into the eye patch mould.
• Allow the eye patches to cool down to room temperature until it becomes thick.  

4. Demoulding of eye patches:

• Demould the eye patches carefully.
• Remove slowly from the mould.

5. Storage condition:

• Store the eye patch in an airtight container.
• Avoid direct sunlight.
• Store at room temperature.

8. Evaluation parameters:

                      pH measurement of the herbal eye patch

Adhesion test for eye patch