Dermatologist Dr Mahima Jain: Blue Light can make your skin prone to acne

Dr. Mahima Jain

Our skin is exposed to different levels of light. Due to modernization we are not exposed to natural lights during the day but overexposed to relatively high levels of artificial lights. The widespread use of light emitting diodes and rapidly increasing use of smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktops have led to a significant rise in the exposure of human skin cells to these lights causing skin damage and accelerated skin ageing.

Even exposure of human skin cells to as short as one hour can cause reactive oxygen species generation, apoptosis and necrosis.

Blue light is part of the spectrum of visible light, high energy, short wavelength. It contributes to brown spots on skin and causes melasma, and photoaging. Blue light can penetrate all the way to our dermis where our collagen and elastin live. Proximity is also a concern.

It causes breakdown of our collagen causing wrinkles and skin laxity. There is loss of firmness of our skin and increase in visible lines. Exposure to blue light is more problematic for skin of colour.

Our skin regenerative cycle gets spoiled and we develop all signs of aging fast.

Blue light also compromises our beauty sleep by disrupting our natural circadian rhythm. It affects the level of melatonin. Increase incidence of dull, lusterless skin, pigmentation and under eye darkness and lax skin.

Excess insulin in the blood might cause the oily glands to create more oil, raising the risk of acne. Excessive exposure to blue light cause disruption in hormone levels. Hence acne, acne spots and acne scars become more persistent and take longer time to resolve.

It has an anti microbial effect. It also has anti inflammatory effect and decreases redness of acne.

Visible light therapy is used to treat mild to moderate acne.

Hence it's a good idea to use blue light protective creams and filters and try to minimize the exposure to blue light as much as possible. Skin care products loaded with topical antioxidants are an absolute must. Mineral sunscreens with iron oxides are the gold standard in blue light protection.

Also our diet should be loaded with antioxidants which can boost our skin defence against oxidative environmental damage. Also based on current knowledge changing the spectral output of LED based smartphones flashes can be introduced.

Dermatologist Dr Mahima Jain - https://instagram.com/skindrmahimajain?utm_medium=copy_link