Link between visible light and skin ageing shown
Healthcare brand Higher Nature has supported the launch of a new study in support of their new skincare range Digital Defence on visible light (VIS) and skin ageing.
The study was conducted by Professor Mark Birch-Machin, professor of molecular dermatology at Newcastle University. The research tested all other light from the sun in relation to skin damage, which included VIS, infrared (IR) and ultraviolet (UV).
Professor Machin explains that his team used a solar stimulator on human donor skin cells, with five filters blocking out different wavelengths of light, focusing the selected light on the skin cells. They explored five different combinations of light: VIS only, VIS and IR, UV and VIS, UV only and a combination of all three. The team studied the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and damage to the nuclear and mitochondrial DNA.
The results showed that there was increase in ROS production with UV only and a similar increase with solar light (68% and 76% more production). The dermis cells had a slight increase in ROS production with UV only (44%) but a large effect from all three together (158%). This longer the epidermal cells were exposed to the three groups, the greater the differences between UV only and all three.
The study showed that VIS penetrated more deeply into the skin and the combined effect of UV and VIS created more damage to the lower levels of the skin.
Professor Birch-Machin commented, “These findings open up questions for what that means for brands and how we move forward to address sun protection in the future – namely incorporating blue light protection. The truth is that science evolves and moves forward all the time. We were appalled at the way we used to use sunbeds to get vitamin D, we will be aghast at how we used to spend 12 hours a day in front of our computer screens. You never know what is around the corner in science.”
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