Over the counter sun cream will not stop you ageing from sun damage on your face

How much does sun damage contribute to ageing?

We all know that clinical signs of ageing are essentially influenced by outside factors, especially sun exposure. Indeed, UV exposure seems to be responsible for 80% of visible facial ageing.

However, it may surprise you to hear that your over-the-counter sun cream won’t slow down the aging process as much as you might think.

How do you stop sun ageing?

Traditional approaches, or high street products only concentrate on protecting against UVB rays which effectively prevent you from burning. To fully stop sun damage affecting the signs of ageing you need to go much deeper into the skin and hit the layers which are most likely to cause ageing.

Typically, high street products focus on UVB and occasionally UVA which will only scratch the surface in the top layers of the skin. Medical grade products are much more effective with protection against the deeper penetrating UVA, HEV (blue light from all of the electronic devices) and IR-A (Infrared) sun rays.

To put into context, the deeper skin layer called ‘Dermis’ is made out of collagen and elastin among others. Our skin relies on these to keep it plump with lots of elasticity and to prevent the signs of ageing.

The loss of collagen and elastin leads to saggy skin and lines and wrinkle formation. So, if you are not protecting yourself against the deeper HEV and IR-A rays you will not be stopping those rays from ageing your skin.

Is it too late to reverse sun damage?

No! there are techniques we can do to treat sun damaged skin such as using medical grade Vitamin C and prescription strength specialist retinol creams. There are also specialist medical grade face creams that can help the skin rebuild the collagen and elastin fibres too.

Finally, there are also non-evasive aesthetic medicine techniques such as micro needling which can boost your collagen production for up to two years after the treatment.

Book in a consultation with me to discuss any concerns you might have.

All ZO Skin health medical grade sunscreens protect you from UVB, UVA, HEV and IR-A and are available to buy online via our free Members only online shop.