Summertime has so many amazing perks. Being able to spend time outdoors socializing with friends and family is always great. Trips to the beach and being able to shed our winter layers in favor of shorts and vests is also a definite advantage! But summer sun doesn’t come without its drawbacks. We all love spending time in the sun, but ultimately it’s not great for our skin. Over exposure can seriously damage our skin and leave us with some serious problems. Here’s how and why you need to protect your skin in the sun…
What Causes Sun Damage
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Put simply, overexposure to the sun causes skin damage. You might think that you’re not getting too much sun, but the sun is far stronger, and our skin more fragile, than you’d think. The sun’s powerful UV rays strip our skin of the lubricating oils we need. These keep our skin soft and moisturized. This isn’t a short-term issue. Overexposure leads to significant and long-term changes in our skin’s structure. The sun’s rays damage fibers in our skin called elastin. When these fibers begin to get damage our skin stretched and sags, it also bruises and tears more easily.
What Does Sun Damage Do?
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You may have gathered by now, sun damage can age us rapidly. When the elastin breaks down our skin sags and becomes less plump and full. Similarly, the sun’s ray’s stripping our skin of moisture also ages us. Our skin produces natural oils to keep it hydrated. When these are depleted fine lines can begin to form and the skin’s natural defenses are weakened. Long-term sun exposure leads to a change in the skin’s collagen. This can lead to premature aging, wrinkles, and raised blood vessels. Short-term symptoms of sun damage include sunburn and dry skin. Sunburn is characterized by painful red skin. More severe sunburn displays itself as blisters or bumps.
More seriously, overexposure can lead to actinic keratosis. This is basically a little sandpaper-like bump on the skin which can be pink, red, yellowish or even brown. This doesn’t go away and has to be removed.
How Can You Treat Sun Damage?
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Aesthetic dermatology is a route some sufferers go down. Professionals can restore damaged skin with lasers, freezing, or other chemical treatments. Actinic keratosis is a preemptive warning that you could have an increased risk of developing skin cancer, so it should always be taken seriously.
Improve the appearance of skin by using formulas that contain lactic acid. Don’t treat skin until all sunburn subsided. When it has, use ingredients and formulas which encourage cell turnover. You will need to exfoliate your skin to remove the dead skin cells from the surface, this will make way for new healthy ones. Simple painkillers like aspirin and ibuprofen are best to take to ease the pain of sunburn, Prevent sun damage by limiting your exposure to the sun and using a high factor sun cream. There are even some foundations which contain SPF too.
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