Lorry Driver’s Skin

A 69-year-old man, a lorry driver for 28 years, with damaged skin on the left side of his face that was exposed to the sun. NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE

Yes, this is what sun can do to your face!

UV radiation can be quite damaging to our skin. What it does is it can induce highly reaction molecules, free radicals, in the skin. These free radicals changes the chemical balance of our skin that can trigger other processes and speed up the visible aging. If you care about your skin you need to protect it from sun damage. period.

How?

Here are some suggestions in following order:

1- Avoid Sun! Stay in shade. Wear hats and clothing. These are the MOST important protections.

2- Use sunscreen. Excessively high SPF products doesn’t necessarily translate to higher protection. Very high SPF value may result in unbalanced, non-uniform UV protection, usually providing higher UVB and lower UVA protection. You need a sunscreen that reduce the transmission of both UVA and UVB equally.

Usually people reverse this order. By applying sunscreen they feel comfortable with staying under the sun longer.

3- Don’t forget to reapply your sunscreen! Leaving home in the morning after applying sunscreen won’t protect you for whole day. You need to re-apply the sunscreen based on their SPF value.

Personal note:

I prefer non-nano mineral sunscreens. Nano mineral and chemical filter can be toxic because of their ability to penetrate the skin and enter blood stream. Also there are a number of chemical filters such as Oxybenzone and Octinoxate that are known for damaging the coral reefs. I don’t like to use products that are both moisturizer and sunscreen. It is better to apply a nourishing moisturizer with wonderful skin actives first and then apply the sunscreen on top of it. This way you can protect your skin from the high PH of sunscreens. A very outer layer of our skin has a PH around 4.5-6 creating a protecting layer called acid mantle. PH of sunscreens can go up to 7.5 that can disrupt the PH of acid mantle making the skin prone to infection, dehydration, roughness and irritation.

Be Safe! Enjoy Summer!

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