Photoaging is not old photos you have in a shoebox that are turning yellow. It is damage to your skin. I know you are likely tuning out as I write this, but the sun is not your skin’s friend. The two things we have control over which damage our skin and cause us to look old (oh no!) are sun and smoking.
Technically, photoaging is damage and aging to your skin caused by the UVA and UVB rays in sunlight. Chronic exposure to sunlight (which we definitely have here in the Bay Area) causes UV damage in the skin. The ultraviolet light alters our skin cells at a genetic level, causing free radicals and DNA damage.
Most people think of sun damage as just pigmentation, sunburns, or cancers. We need to think of youthful skin as being healthy skin. A lot of what I see when people come in with complaints of “aging” are due to sun damage. What are signs?
- broken blood vessels
- wrinkles
- roughness on the skin
- actinic keratosis (little patches of rough areas. These are a sign of pre skin cancer)
- pigmentation
- redness
- skin cancers (melanoma, basal cell, squamous cells)
The skin cancer foundation has a new ad campaign which I like. It says “Go with your own glow.” They have catchy ad campaigns like “Keep tanning. You look great in leather.” Or “Tanning’s fifteen minutes are over. Let your inner health, beauty, and vitality shine through.”
I am going to do a series on skin health. Not only does it prevent skin cancers, it makes you look better too.