Now We Have to Worry About Blue Light Harming Our Skin, Too?

It's likely you're hearing more and more about 'blue light' and how the light emitted from our phones, computers, etc. can harm our skin just like UVA and UVB rays do by causing premature skin aging, wrinkles, and hyperpigmentation. Sounds like bad news right? Especially if you're someone who may be religious about sun skincare but also spends a good deal of time face-to-face with a screen.

But we have GREAT news:

ALL physical sunscreens protect you from blue light. Yep, you got it. No need to seek out labels specifically highlighting this fact. If your SPF contains Zinc Oxide or Titanium Dioxide consider yourself protected from these newly noxious rays. Just remember to reapply!

Physical sunscreens (aka mine ral sunscreens) sit on TOP of the skin and literally reflect UVA, UVB and blue light. These sunscreens can also be an ideal choice for those with more sensitive skin - think acne, rosacea or melasma prone.

To further amp up your protection, be sure you're also applying an antioxidant each morning such as CE Ferulic from Skinceuticals OR grab a double-duty product like Total Defense + Repair from SkinMedica which combines physical and chemical SPF ingredients, providing broad-spectrum coverage PLUS your daily antioxidant protection.

It's also pertinent to keep in mind that currently, we don't have a ton of evidence that shows blue light accelerates aging to such a level that it's not still beneficial as blue light therapy which we use in our office to help treat acne-causing bacteria. We typically recommend alternating blue and red light LED therapy which helps with anti-aging by stimulating collage growth. Read more about our LED therapies here.  

While we know with certainty that UV light contributes to photoaging, we are still in the process of learning about blue light. With that said, we are always discovering new effects of environmental components on our body and the absence of concrete evidence about blue light now doesn’t mean we won’t discover something about it in the future!