Here's one for Ripley's: In the United Kingdom, a 60-year-old woman was sentenced to six months in prison for stealing over £10,000 of goods from various shops. The stolen items were carefully hidden in her eye bags!

Beryl Payneridge's career as a shoplifter ended when a security guard at Dixon's - a British store specializing in consumer electronics - became suspicious of her appearance. The guard said Payneridge looked as if she hadn't slept for a year or was shoplifting something. When he went through her eye bags, he found a Sony widescreen TV and several DVDs hidden there!

Prior to this, the suspect admitted that she had concealed buttons, soap powder, and fridge-freezers in her large eye bags. In court, the judge told Payneridge, "You took advantage of your naturally sagging features to willfully defraud and burgle shops."

By now, you probably know that this is a fictitious story cooked up by Paul Deacon in The Spoof! Web site. However, it clearly shows us just how bad eye bags can be. While the problem is rarely serious, eye bags can disfigure one emotionally and psychologically by making you look old and ugly. These psychological scars can affect your work and social life.

"Puffy eyes can be caused by a host of reasons including: allergies, stress, high blood pressure, crying, sun or heat exposure, increased salt intake and even too much alcohol consumption. Genetics and lack of sleep are also major culprits. Since the under-eye area is loaded with blood vessels that tend to retain water, your eyes need extra TLC," according to the Skincare News Team.

Although eye bags are common in the elderly and tend to run in families, they can also affect children. In kids, this is often caused by allergies or congested sinuses that have become inflamed.

Granting you or your kid have a clean bill of health, you can still get eye bags as the years take their toll on your face. Since the skin around the eyes is thinner, it can easily reflect the ravages of time that may manifest itself as eye bags, puffiness, wrinkles, and dark circles.

"Sometimes what you're seeing isn't really darkened skin, but engorged blood vessels under your eyes. Because the skin under your eyes is thinner than skin anywhere else on your body, blood vessels there are more noticeable, especially if you're fair-skinned," said Dr. Monica L. Monica, an ophthalmologist in New Orleans and spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Now that you know what eye bags are, what can you do about them? In Japan, people bothered by eye bags can simply purchase a blackcurrant-flavored drink that's advertised in the subway. This strange concoction will supposedly eliminate eye bags although it's not clear how many bottles you have to take before this happens! Besides, what if you don't like blackcurrant?!

A better way is to use Eyevive. This dermatological breakthrough safely and effectively reduces eye bags, dark circles, puffiness, wrinkles, and other signs of aging. Eyevive contains the right blend of peptides, antioxidants and a powerful moisturizer that prevents fluid accumulation around the eyes, improves circulation, and strengthens the skin to give you a smoother and more youthful appearance. Visit http://www.eyevive.com today for details.