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your computer's blue light is aging your skin
3 minute read
does extra screen time impact your skin?
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blue light is the latest hot topic when it comes to our health. as we spend more time on our computers and phones than ever before, health experts have raised concerns about how the blue light emanating from these devices is affecting us — from eye damage to ruining our sleep, worries around blue light has spawned a whole line of preventative devices such as blue light glasses, screen protectors, and special light bulbs to reduce the glare, and minimize its effect. but there’s another part of us that’s feeling the consequence of blue light: our skin.
blue light, also known as high-energy visible light (hev), is simply a colour in the visible light spectrum that we see, just like red or orange. each colour has a different wavelength and energy level — blue light has shorter wavelengths and higher energy than other colours. to put the extent of damage from blue light into perspective, research has linked eye damage and short-wave blue light with wavelengths between 415 and 455 nanometers — most of the light in smartphones, tvs, and tablets has wavelengths between 400 and 490 nanometers.
we are often told to worry about protecting our skin from the sun, as well as uva and uvb light. blue light is also emitted by the sun, and can penetrate and damage the skin. when hev light penetrates the skin, it creates oxidative stress and the production of free radicals, meaning that skin cells become damaged, causing the breakdown of collagen, redness, and hyperpigmentation (brown spots), which all contribute to the look of aging skin.
what makes blue light particularly harmful is that when we go outside and are exposed to sunlight, we know we should be protecting our skin from the damaging rays of the sun. but when we are spending an increasing amount of time in front of screens, indoors, we are perhaps not as conscious about its effects and the amount of hev light our skin is exposed to.
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protect your skin
guarding your skin against the effects of blue light is not complicated — it starts with the same precautions you would take for sun avoidance and protection. this includes finding and wearing a sun protection factor (spf) product that you like and wearing it every day — outdoors and indoors — as part of your skin health routine. most spfs on the market will protect the skin from hev light, meaning you don’t have to buy any special “blue light products.”
other prevention tips include adjusting the warmth of the light your screen emits, and having scheduled settings, where the screen will automatically adjust to a warmer, less-blue light. also important is adding a vitamin c product to your skin care routine, which is rich in antioxidants, helps to clean up the free radicals and reverses the oxidative stress that damages skin cells and causes aging.
but is blue light all bad?
it all comes down to the amount of blue light exposure, and the environment in which you are exposed to it.
blue light therapy is, in fact, used to treat skin conditions including acne, sun damage and pre-cancerous skin cells. again, the amount of exposure and the targeted exposure is key here. for sun damage and pre-cancerous cell treatments, blue light is combined with levulinic acid, which breaks down the already damaged cells and completely destroys them.
at the end of the day, a little bit of blue light in a controlled environment can be positive, while too much exposure in an uncontrolled environment will have negative impacts on our overall health.
dr. rohan bissoondath, md, is the medical director and founder of preventous collaborative health and preventous cosmetic medicine. he is an executive board member of the canadian association of aesthetic medicine and is certified by the college of family physicians of canada and licensed through the college of physicians and surgeons of alberta.
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