Tears Can Have A Bad Impact On The Skin? This Is An Expert Explanation

JAKARTA - Crying is a natural thing for children and adults, because it is one way for the body to channel emotions, ranging from sadness, anger, happiness, to grief.

Thus, crying can be useful for calming down to lower stress hormone levels, such as cortisol and oxytocin. However, although useful, crying must also have limits.

This is because frequent crying will actually have a negative impact on mental and physical health, including for the skin. Quoted from Mindbodygreen, on Tuesday, October 28, 2025, if crying is not balanced with skin care, then tears can dry up the skin or even cause mild irritation.

Tears are isotonic and have a higher pH than the skin. This difference in pH can cause the skin to dry or experience mild irritation, especially if a person cries for a long time.

Tears usually have a pH approaching 7, while the skin has a pH of around 5.5 or 6, said dermatologist Melanie Palm.

In addition, the habit of wiping your eyes with your hands after crying can also trigger excessive friction, which embezzles the underwater area of the eye and makes the eyes appear to swell even more.

This causes the eyes to look swollen, which can get worse if you rub it while crying, added another dermatologist, Rachel Westbay.

Not only that, but tears also contain electrolytes that can attract skin moisture and cause mild dehydration, especially in the lower eye area which has thinner skin layers.

Therefore, after crying to relieve and calm your mind, you still need to do skin care. Some of the ways of care that can be done include:

- When crying, try not to rub the eye area too often. Use soft tissue to wipe your tears so that your skin does not experience irritation.

- The cold compress area around the eyes to help fill the swelling and redness.

- Use a moisturizer or sheet mask so that the skin will moisturize again after crying.

- Drinking water to help the body replace lost fluids during crying, which has a good impact on the skin.