Why does the sun age and damage my skin?
The sun is out everyday. Even during winter, the sun is in the sky and that means so are the damaging ultraviolet rays it gives out. There are 2 main types of UV rays that damage our skin. Both types can cause skin cancer:
- UVB is responsible for the majority of sunburns.
- UVA penetrates deep into the skin. It ages the skin but contributes much less towards sunburn.
To prevent the suns damaging rays from your skin, you need to wear a good quality medical grade SPF, everyday! It is that simple. But why? What will the sun do to your skin if you don’t? Well…
- Skin Cancer
The number one reason for protecting your skin is to prevent skin cancer. 80% of skin cancers are avoidable. USE SPF. - Wrinkles
Wrinkles are caused by the breakdown of elastin, something you have plenty of when you are young. Elastin keeps the skin plump and taught. The sun, kills off elastin in the skin, causing it to prematurely breakdown. So the sun literally, gives you wrinkles! - Pigmentation
The extra melanin caused by the sun turns your skin dark, or what we call, sun-tanned. In some cases, the sun will cause an uneven increase in melanin production, which produces irregular coloring of the skin, this is pigmentation. The sun can also cause a permanent stretching of the small blood vessels, giving your skin a reddish, mottled appearance.
To protect your skin and avoid damaged skin from the sun, use an SPF daily on your face, hands and neck. When sunbathing or in the summer months or abroad in a hot country, SPF should be used all over your body daily.
We use and highly recommend AlumierMD SPF’s. These not only act primarily as an SPF, but they are also formulated for skincare as well, and will help with moisture and anti-ageing. There are tinted and non-tinted options with a choice of colours and textures.
To learn more take a look at our website.