It’s no secret that, despite supplying you with vitamin D, exposing your skin to sunlight for lengthy periods of time without taking any protective measures isn’t an advisable thing to do. It might surprise you to know that UV rays are, in actuality, accountable for a whopping 90% of visible dermal aging signs. This is what photoaging is – a process that takes place when unprotected skin is subjected to UV rays for an extended duration, resulting in wrinkles, fine lines and dermal discoloration, among other issues. These age-related imperfections are literally a physical manifestation of UV damage. One of the worst things about photoaging is that it’s cumulative, meaning that the longer you subject yourself to UV light, the more damage your skin endures and the higher your risk is of suffering from premature aging, dermal distress like inflammation, and even skin cancer.
What is premature aging? Premature aging is exactly what it sounds like – the appearance of wrinkles, fine lines and other age-related imperfections before you would otherwise expect to see them. Premature dermal aging caused by UV rays is the result of free radicals (unstable molecules that target and deplete the energy from your body’s otherwise healthy cells) which damage your skin, sometimes irreparably so, and thus accelerate the aging process.
The photoaging process is two-fold since there are two types of damage that your skin undergoes when exposed to UV rays – specifically UVA and UVB. Your skin is made up of 3 main layers. These are: the epidermis (surface layer), the dermis (middle layer) and the subcutis (the bottom/deepest layer). UVA and UVB can affect these layers at varying degrees, resulting in many dermal issues from collagen degradation to skin cancer in the worst case scenario. UVA is especially detrimental to your skin since, as well as causing damage to the epidermis, it’s able to sink beneath the surface and into the deeper layers of your skin. This has the ability to impair not just collagen and elastin, but your epidermal cells and even blood vessels. When blood vessels are damaged by UVA, the skin can look bruised. This is because the blood vessels near to the surface of your skin have either broken or been made to dilate, which is why they’re suddenly visible. UVB-related damage, on the other hand, is restricted to the epidermis. This isn’t to say it’s less destructive – in fact, it’s capable of harming the DNA found in this layer, which can not only cause the premature onset of dermal aging, but it can also activate precancerous cells which may lead to skin cancer in its various forms.
Though none of us are yet capable of halting photoaging in its tracks, it’s definitely well within our capabilities to minimize its effects. If nothing else, just remember – never skimp on dermal protection. Trust us, your skin will be grateful for it later.