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Okay, sunlight is harmful to the skin, most of you are aware of that now after all my posts about skin cancer and sun damage…! But that the blue light from cellphones and computers now also turns out to be harmful to the skin, that’s even new for me!
Of course, I knew that looking at your phone or computer for too long couldn’t be good, but I had expected that this was mainly to do with your eyes and not with your skin. After seeing and reading a news report, I went on research into this so-called ‘blue light’.
Various studies have shown that the blue light can cause an older skin and that this makes you even more at risk of developing skin cancer.
Many of these studies have been explained on various websites and news pages, however they do not mention that these studies were carried out in a laboratory and that ‘loose’ skin cells were used for this study (collagen cells that provide the firmness of your skin). They exposed these collagen cells to blue light LEDs and saw that the cells became less active. The researchers have not tested this on the entire skin, even though the skin has many different layers with a barrier function that blue light cannot pass through quickly. The conditions in which the collagen cells are exposed in the laboratory therefore have little to do with daily reality.
What surprised me is that there are now even products on the market that claim to protect the skin from the blue light from cellphones and computers. These are special sprays and creams that you should apply to your face in the morning just like sunscreen. There are also ‘blue light screen protectors’ available for cellphones that should protect you from the blue light.
The above facial products are not good to my knowledge. I have looked at some of them on the internet and most of them have been labelled ‘protects against blue light’ and ‘dermatologically tested’. However, I do not see any known active ingredients, so the products have little or no effect in terms of protection and is the sin of your money.
Another nice subject to discuss, is dermatologically tested. Many people think that if a product contains this label, it is a good product and actually works well. Unfortunately this is not entirely true, dermatologically tested means that the product has been tested, only this may have been by 250 people or by 10. The term ‘dermatologically tested’ is free in use and has no legal content. This makes it possible to put this term on any product. The result of such a test may also remain unknown, as a result of which you will not know whether it will work or not.
As long as there are no good studies on the ‘blue light’, I am not going to worry about this. However, I do continue to spread sunburn every day because I know how harmful the sun can be. So, if you want to protect yourself against skin aging and skin cancer, spread yourself well with a solar factor every day!
Let me know what you think of this blog and if you have any questions I would like to hear from you! E-mail me: isla@myskinfacts.com
Sources:
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2ba1/6456b0b73faaf57caa9f19d245989a3aaaf1.pdf
https://www.refinery29.com/2018/02/190110/phone-blue-light-aging-skin
