Is this ever normal??

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excuse my ignorance, but i was wondering if it's ever a "normal" finding for children to have dark undereye circles. the children i am speaking of have no allergies. it doesn't sit well with me, i'm thinking they have to be sleep deprived or malnourished to have dark circles at such a young age. then again, i may be totally off the mark. i figured this would be the perfect place to ask!!!! thanks!

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Specializes in Family.

In my experience, the child doesn't have to have allergies now, but may later develop them. Also, look at heredity. Some people just have dark undereye circles.

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I have them under my eyes and I have allergies. Two of my kids have them and have allergies. The third one (who is 2) has no signs of allergies but does have the dark circles under her eyes. Both of my older kids had the signs by the time they were 2 and my oldest had to go for allergy testing at 2 years old because she was so bad. So, maybe the youngest will develop them since it runs in the family. But so far nothing but the dark circles. I have to say she is not malourished as she is 29 lbs and she is not sleep deprived. She sleeps 10 hours at HS and she takes 2-3 hour naps daily. Who knows?

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

Are they especially fair skinned? I know I had them as a kid and was really fair and maybe they showed up more, and was no means malnourished or sleep deprived. However if other s/s in these kids are setting off "warning signals", that is something to investigate more.

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