Not only is the blue light from your devices damaging your eyes but your skin as well
Selection from the highest events
- Blue light can damage your skin in more ways than one
- Prohibit the use of tools to avoid skin damage from blue light
- Follow a healthy skin care approach to keep your skin healthy
When it comes to skin health, UV radiation is considered to be one of the most harmful environmental factors. One of the most obvious reasons for aging is the high energy ultraviolet radiation emitted by the sun. You may be aware of the need to protect the skin from UV radiation, but not many know about the harmful effects of blue light on our skin? Blue light is part of the visible light spectrum and the sun is the main source of blue light. However, your ubiquitous digital devices, computer screens and even LEDs will also expose you to a steady stream of blue light. Not only does this blue light have a detrimental effect on eye health but it also damages the skin and accelerates the breakdown of the skin’s essential protein roots.
Digital devices are everywhere today. From working on computers during the day to being slowed down to social media until late at night, many spend nearly half of their lives in front of digital screens. With screen time going up dramatically in recent years, the amount of blue light has gone up dramatically. Skin care products and creams that offer blue light protection are the latest trends the skin care industry is seeing. So, should you worry about always living among blue light? More importantly, can you do something to protect yourself from its effects?
Blue light: Experience the effects on your skin and how you can protect your skin
What exactly is blue light?
Blue light as the name suggests is the spectrum of visible light that falls in the blue to violet region. Also known as high energy visible light (HEV), blue light emits short-wave radiation that comes with high energy. In fact, it is the blue spectrum of visible light that causes the skies to appear blue.
While the sun is the main source of blue light like all other sources of visible light, our digital devices including smartphones, tablets, computers and LEDs contribute to our view of blue light during the day. Blue light and its adverse effects on the eyes have been well known for some time now. However, its negative effects on the skin have become apparent only recently.
Read also: 5 Foods and Drinks that can support your skin’s natural sun protection
Excessive use of light emitters can affect your skin
Image credit: iStock
Light blue and skin
Evidence shows that prolonged exposure to blue light causes damage to skin cells, inhibits skin blocking action and can lead to premature aging, as does UV radiation. Prolonged exposure to blue light also reduces the breakdown of collagen and elastin – essential skin scaffold proteins that are responsible for strong skin and youth. Skin age occurs when the collagen and elastin fibers begin to break down faster than they are generated. The result is skin laxity, premature aging and loss of firmness and elasticity. Exposure to blue light may also promote hyperpigmentation and melasma on the skin.
An indirect effect of blue light is the disruption of the body’s natural circadian rhythm. Blue light blocks the sleep hormone melatonin and tends to stimulate the person exposed to it. That’s why watching digital screens late at night affects your sleep and can even cause sleep disorders by disturbing your natural clock. Lack of sleep then stresses skin age and collagen breakdown.
Read also: Here’s what you need to know before adding vitamin C to your skin care regimen
Using mobile phones before bed affects your sleep pattern
Image credit: iStock
Can you do something about it?
The use of digital devices has increased dramatically over the past year even among students and children. So light blue skin care has become an important element of skin protection. While you can’t avoid blue light from digital devices, some sensible steps can be taken to mitigate its impact.
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Limiting non-working screen time is one of the steps. Cutting full screen time is not only good for your skin but for your overall health.
- Using blue light shields on your devices is another important intervention that will help reduce your overall exposure to blue light. Several digital devices today also come with the option to dim blue light and turn on the yellow light. If your device has the so-called ‘night mode’, use it regularly to reduce your exposure.
- Avoid bringing your appliances to bed at all costs. Remove cell phones and other devices at least half an hour before bedtime to allow your body to follow its normal sleep cycle. This is not only good for the body but also for the skin as it is during sleep hours when the skin repairs and regenerates itself.
- Skin care products or treatments that stimulate collagen generation are another way to treat aging. In addition to a collagen-enhancing surface, a new biodegradable remodeling treatment called Profhilo helps strengthen the skin’s ability to produce collagen and elastin by replenishing its lost sources of skin. ‘hyaluronic acid. If signs of aging are bothering you, you can try this procedure.
- Zinc oxide-based sunglasses also offer protection against blue light. Wearing sunglasses and using skin care products full of antioxidants that help scrub free radicals are other important ways to reduce blue light damage.
So, take a digital break for healthy skin!
(Dr. Pankaj Chaturvedi is a Consultant Dermatologist MD & Hair Transplant Physician at MedLinks, New Delhi)
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