With endless Zoom meetings and hours in front of our screens, we look at products to help protect skin from the damaging effects of blue light.
As we continue to spend a large portion of our day glued to phones, tablets and computers, have you ever stopped to think of the consequences all that screen time is having on your skin?
Dermatologists warn that blue light from smartphones and laptops could potentially age our skin. Blue light is a high-energy visible light that penetrates the skin deeper than other lights in the same spectrum. Experts suggest that blue light can cause as much damage to your skin as the sun and without proper protection, it can cause fine lines and wrinkles, and the more time you spend in front of it, the worse the damage will be.
Kenneth Howe, a board-certified dermatologist, says that unlike UV light, blue light is not known to cause skin cancer, but there is science to indicate that it potentially contributes to skin aging. "It does this by generating reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the skin," says Howe. "These ROS, or free radicals, in turn, cause oxidative damage within the skin."
The antidote? Antioxidants, which protect the skin by neutralising these ROS before they can do their damage.
Ingredients like zinc oxide and titanium dioxide help block some of the light, while antioxidants like vitamin C and green tea help reduce the damaging effects on the skin.
