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Sun Exposure and Your Skin. What you need to know about Sunscreens and
Photo-Aging
Did
you know that you can get sun damage, just by sitting near a sunny window?
UVA light is the culprit. Like all light, UVA penetrates glass and it
penetrates your skin - well past the epidermis, into the dermal layers
you can't see. Although UVA rays only cause 1/1000th of the redness caused
by UVB rays - the light primarily responsible for sunburn - they are even
more damaging to your skin. Sitting by a window, even if you don't feel
heat or redness, you can still be exposed to the skin-cancer-producing
damage of UVA light exposure.
Everyday
sun exposure that occurs when you're walking to and from work or school,
or, yes, sitting by a sunny window, is the primary cause of skin - aging.
Aging caused by light exposure, called photo-aging, is the biggest cause
of our facial wrinkles, crows-feet, grainy texture, freckles and 'age
spots'.
Unlike
UVB light, which is strongest between 2-4 pm, the sun emits the same amount
of UVA light all day long. Some sunscreens are very good at blocking UVB
light but are not as affective at blocking UVA. Read labels on your sunscreen
carefully. You want a screen or block that does both. Without double protection,
you could be staying out longer, thinking you're protected, but in fact,
you're still giving your skin an overdose of UVA with all that additional
sun time.
A
quick look at skin on the inside of your arm compared to the outside of
the arm, shows you the difference light exposure makes in skin quality.
What
to do? Block. Block the sun whenever, wherever, however. Thanks to today's
suncare research, fueled by increasing concerns about aging, skin cancer,
and the dangers of a thinning ozone layer, there are more ways to fight
back against photo-aging.
Not
only will blocking the sun prevent burning and aging, it will also help
control such common skin disorders as Porphyria, a condition that forms
blisters on the hands and face when they are over-exposed to light. Another
concern, scientists are studying, is the structural changes in skin cells
caused by infrared radiation caused by everyday light exposure.
We
All Need Sun Protection
We
all need protection, regardless of heredity, sex or age but dermatologists
say the young are at greatest risk because up to 80% of damage caused
by ultraviolet rays occurs before age 18. Why? Kids spend more time outdoors
and in the sun. What's most disturbing about this exposure, is that it
takes decades for all the evidence to show up on the surface - in wrinkles,
rough, grainy texture, sagging, loss of firmness and cancer. Who knows
if that basal cell carcinoma started last summer on St. Barth's - or 30
years ago in the family's backyard sand box?
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