I have dark circles under my eyes for no apparent reason- could it be from my vegetarian diet?

For about 2 months now, I've inexplicably gotten dark circles and premature wrinkles under and over my eyes. I don't know what the cause could possibly be, but a friend suggested a lack of some vitamin could be the problem. I've been a vegetarian for about 6 months and never experienced or heard of this before. Can anyone tell me what's the cause of these circles and how I can get rid of them?

Sometimes, dark circles under the eyes can be a sign of iron deficiency, which is a common problem in "new" or "amateur" vegetarians. Pull your bottom eyelid down and check the inner lid...if it's nice and pink you're okay, if its pale or white you have iron deficiency. A good multivitamin with iron will help that. Also, read up on the vegetarian diet to see where you should get your necessary iron intake.

Also, dark circles are a sign of an allergy of some sort, called "allergic shiners". My daughter gets them, and that's how I can tell she's been around her friend's cat.

Could be from lack of a complete set of necessary amino acids in each meal. Vegetarians are prone to break-down in skin and muscle to keep the internal organs alive and healthy.

This could be, but I think it also may be a lack of basic nutrition which you can get from milk, eggs, cheese, meat, etc. This also could be because you arn't gettting enough sleep. See what happens if you sleep in one day and eat lots of protein!

My question to you would be are you getting any types of protein? That might be a reason. A good alternative source of protein is nuts. Other than that I'd have no idea you might want to talk about this to your doctor and see what he/she has to say.