Look, getting fine lines and wrinkles around your eye area is just a thing that happens. Whether you're 21 or 31, seeing lil wrinkles pop up around your eyes is just a natural part of ageing every dame will experience at one point or another. 

But! What you might not know is that walloping your face with needles, lasers and eye creams isn't the only way to help delay their occurrence.

While lifestyle, genetics and all that stuff obviously plays a large part in when eye wrinkles start appearing (read: it's different for everyone), there are some things you can do to slow this whole process down and help improve them before they go ahead and make themselves at home.

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Yes, really! Cause y'see, there are some sneaky and rather surprising little things that could be contributing to the appearance of your eye wrinkles. Things you do on the regular and have never thought twice about.

And oh, just to be clear - there's absolutely *nothing* wrong with letting your eye wrinkles do their thing. Zilch. But if you're concerned about keeping them to a minimum, we've pulled together a list of some things that could be causing them to become more pronounced.

1. Pulling and tugging at your eye area.

Excessively pulling and tugging at your eye area is one of the worst things you can do if you're trying to prevent fine lines and wrinkles. So, pls stop.

Your eye area - she's sensitive. Think of her like tissue paper. You should *always* dab - NEVER RUB - makeup and skincare products into your eye area. Mmmkay? 

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And it's not just applying products that you need to be wary of here (yay, more rules!). Rubbing and tugging at your eye area when you're removing mascara, concealer and all that jazz is a horrible idea. 

Also, are you one of those people who aggressively rubs your itchy eyes? Try not to do this.

2. Sleeping with eye makeup on.

We don't want to lecture you while you innocently read an article, but you could be doing some serious damage to your skin. 

Not removing your makeup before you go to sleep gets a lot of airtime for its role in breakouts and congestion, but did you know being lazy with your beauty routine could also make your skin look older, quicker? 

Well, now you do, boo.

Your eye area enjoys leftover makeup like a swift kick to the teeth (she told us), so always make sure you remove eye products and makeup before you go to sleep. And when removing, do not rub. Goodness, don't make us say this again.

Also, make sure you thoroughly rinse *everything* from your lids and lashes before sleeping - cause no one wants to wake up with a nasty eye irritation from all the chemicals that've seeped in.

3. Letting the skin around your eyes get dehydrated.

Whether it's the air-con, the whole leaving-on-eye-makeup-at-night thing, the 2362 coffees a day or just the fact that you've been blessed with a thirsty flake of a face, dehydration around your eyes is another thing that can make fine lines and wrinkles deeper and more pronounced. 

Make sure you moisturise the skin around your eyes morning and night (ingredients like hyaluronic acid and ceramides will do the job nicely), because this will help keep your eye area looking smooth and fresh.

And that doesn't necessarily mean you need to drop a whole heap of money on a fancy new eye cream. A serum or moisturiser will do for your eyes what it does for the rest of your face - hydrate and protect. 

Just make sure you don't take these up any closer than about 1cm under your eye, okay? Sweet.

Hot tip for gals with dry lids: Apply a little bit of Vaseline around your eye area before you go to sleep. This will help lock in moisture and keep the area soft and elastic.

4. Skimping on sun protection.

You knew this one was coming, didn't ya? Imagine if we didn't include sun protection? HA!

You should know by now that you should apply SPF every day, because those UV rays will mess you up if you're not careful. And fine lines, wrinkles and crepey skin around your eyes are the least of your worries. There's also the very real risk of skin cancer.

If you're weirded out about applying sunscreen near your eyes (just don't put it IN your eyes and you'll be fine, friend), Mesoestetic's Mesoprotech Sun Stick is a good option for sensitive areas such as the eyes and lips (plus, it's tiny and cute and you can take it with you everywhere).

5. Using the wrong ingredients.

As well as daily SPF and regular hydration, incorporating some actives into your skincare routine can help smooth and reduce the appearance of wrinkles around your eyes.

We're talking about ingredients like peptides, antioxidants and retinol - these are hardworking fellas who pack a real punch when it comes to repairing your skin and preventing damage. 

However! You need to be uber careful when using these kinds of ingredients and always proceed with caution. They won't agree with everyone's skin, so be mindful of any reactions. 

If you go in too hard too fast, or are using ingredients that aren't suitable for your individual skin type, you may end up with fun things like inflammation, redness, irritation and unwanted texture around your eyes.

So, take things slow and always consult a skin expert or dermatologist if you're not sure what works for you.

Feature image: Getty

Do you have any other tips you'd like to add? Share with us in the comment section below.