Anti Aging tip: Blue light skin care- Most people think of UV rays when thinking of rays that may cause premature aging of the skin. Most people don’t think of the blue light emitting from their lap tops, phones, or other electronic devices.
In our last post, “Sunscreens:What the Beauty Industry is NOT Telling you”, we discussed that the non burning ray UVA is the major contributor towards the development of fine lines and wrinkles.
In this post, we will discus Blue light and how it may contribute towards your skin aging and what ingredients may help neutralize the effects.
Although in this post we will be focused on the anti aging effects of Blue light, blue light also has been used to treat acne. However, we will not be discussing this in this post.
According to the article,”Electronic Device Generated Light Increases Reactive Oxygen Species in Human Fibroblasts”, studies were performed where they exposed AG13145 fibroblasts to Iphone 8+, Iphone 6 and Ipad (1st gen) at a reading distance of 1cm to see how it affected the EDGL (Electronic Device Generated Light-includes UV, visivle and infrared light from iphones, tvs, computers,etc).
The results:
After one hour, there was a significant increase of ROS (Reactive Oxygen Species-one of the main causes of aging of the skin and also leads to the decreasing of the skins ability to regenerate and repair DNA damage. This ultimately leads to cytotoxicity in human cells and loss of elastasicity, fine lines and dryness.
It also can lead to apoptosis (cell death) and necrosis ( cell injury that causes premature death of the cell.)
When exposed to:
iphone 8+ -it raised the ROS by 81.71%
iphone 6 -raised ROS by 85.79%
ipad (1st gen)-raised ROS by 92.98%
There was nonsignificant change in apoptosis.
Total necrosis was less than 2% for all control groups.
Based on those results, they concluded that short bursts of exposure of EDGL does increase ROS but still the long term affects of constant exposure of EDGL are still inconclusive.
Now these studies were done on hum skin cells BUT NOT ON live skin.
When studies were done on live mice expressing redox-sensitive GFP (green flourescent protein to monitor oxidative stress-in this case ROS), blue light could produce oxidative stress in live skin.
The result would suggest that blue light can contribute towards aging of the skin live the invisible UVA.
What does this have to do with blue light and skin care?
Three different cosmetic active ingredients were chosen for their antioxidant capabilities specifically to reduce ROS and Rosacea.
Not going to get into the specific but I will leave sources below.
Some of the ingredients used:
Sunflower Oil
Ethyl Ferulate
Rosemary Leaf Extract
Polyglyceryl 5 Trioleate
The ingredients above reduced ROS positive fraction of blue light and irradiates cells close to the basal layer.
Reduction of Rosacea:
There was a test where 53 women (21 placebo and 32 with the 3% combination of the ingredients mentioned in a lotion.
The test products were applied 2x daily on the face for 84 days.
Result:
The red spots significantly reduced by 8.5% over baseline placebo.
The maximum improvement by one single individual was 44.3% reduction of red spots that were mostly caused by capillaries.
The MD Dermaceutical Overnight Repair Cream does well for most people who have the beginning stage of Rosacea.
Although it does NOT contain all of the above ingredients, it does contain the sunflower oil among other antioxidants and anti inflammatories.
Another ingredient that has show to increase the photoprotective capabilities is Lutein.
Lutein is a marigold based carotenoid. The bright orange flower has high levels of lutein.
Lutein has been shownt o have high levels of oxidative protection. This helps protect the skin from UV and blue light oxidative stress on the skin.
According to a study Lutein is able to absorb both the blue light from natural sunlight and artificial light.
The maximum absorption is at 446 nm.
Urban Pollution Essence is a gel like serum or water based essence that you can apply before serums and apply creams on top.
Purpose of the product is to hydrate the skin and helps fight the effect of free radicals caused by air pollution and blue light exposure.
The hydrating properties include glycerin and sodium hyaluronate.
Some beneficial ingredients:
Xanthopyll-derived from the lutein rich Marigold flower to help filter out blue light which has been shown to reduce ROS release in the skin.
Hydrolyzed Rhodophycea Extract-macro algae fights against pollution effects on the skin such as heavy metals and ozone. This ingredient has also been proven to regulate and balance out sebum production.
Saccaride Isomerate-moisturizes and exfoliates skin. This helps new corneocytes to be healthy and helps with pore size. It is also helps with external stressors.
Cocoa Extract-derived from cocoa seeds to help fight damaging effects from Blue light.
Biosaccaride Gum-1-polysacchardie high molecular weight. Forms a non-occlusive film on the skin and builds a barrier against both outdoor and indoor pollution.
For those individuals who find that most lotions and cream can break them out , this may help to increase hydration and moisture on the skin without adding any occlusive ingredients.
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