What is Blue Light and How does it Affect Your Skin?

With all the incredible innovations in the world of technology, it seems to be almost impossible to imagine life without electronic devices, such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, TVs, and so on. The fact is that we are dependent on these gadgets for one reason or another. It rarely crossed our minds that blue light stemming from these devices can cause changes in our skin and has adverse impacts on the way it appears and feels.

If you’re not familiar with what blue light is, how it can damage your skin, and how to treat or prevent skin damage caused by it, we’ve got you covered. Keep on reading to know all about blue light and its effects on the skin.

What is Blue Light?

Let’s start by deciphering what blue light actually is. You might already know about the different colors present in the light spectrum that can be seen with the naked eye. Well, blue light is essentially one of those colors. Other colors in the light spectrum include green, red, violet, yellow, orange, and indigo. The synergy of all these colors produces white light that we see when the sun, the main source of blue light, shines. Other than the sun, digital devices and LED and fluorescent light bulbs are also sources of blue light. Blue light is also specified as high-energy visible light and is a high-frequency light and short-wave light. It has a wavelength of 400-450 nanometers. 

Are You Spending Too Much Time on Screen?

According to recent statistics, people spend 6 hours and 57 minutes on screen on average. 3 hours and 43 minutes of this time is spent on smartphones. Another study proposed that teens spend up to 9 hours on screen every day.

Other estimates suggest that we spend around 50% of our lives staring at screens. Our screen time increased particularly after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic when most of us had to stay indoors and used our mobile phones and similar devices more than usual. Furthermore, many of us had to work from home, which further increased the time we spent in front of the screen. Hence, it’s imperative to know how our screen time and exposure to blue light is affecting our skin.

Does Blue Light Damage Your Skin?

The blue light discharged from your electronic devices has varying degrees of wavelengths and can penetrate the skin, causing negative effects on the skin, just like ultraviolet rays. Skincare professionals believe that blue light has the ability to enter deeper into the skin than ultraviolet rays. Although your mobile phones, laptops, and other gadgets give off low levels of blue light, constant exposure to it can cause skin problems. Prolonged contact with low levels of blue light can affect the health and appearance of the skin.

According to research, blue light can accelerate the skin’s aging by causing cell shrinkage and even death. Exposing the skin to blue light for even 60 minutes can cause changes in skin cells. Another study showed that blue light exposure could result in DNA damage, photo-aging, cell and tissue death, and skin barrier damage.

What are the Negative Effects of Blue Light on the Skin?

Now that you know what blue light is and how it affects our skin, let’s have a peek at commonly seen negative effects of blue light on the skin:

• Premature Signs of Aging

Blue light emanating from digital devices and the sun can infiltrate the skin’s surface and lead to reactive oxygen species. This, in turn, causes changes in the DNA and triggers the breakdown of elastin and collagen fibers in the skin. We know that collagen and elastin are two of the essential components of the skin, which keep it plump and healthy. As a consequence of the breakdown of these vital proteins, their levels start to decline in the skin, paving the way to the premature emergence of wrinkles and fine lines.

• Free Radical Damage

According to research, there has been seen an association between exposure to blue light and the production of free radicals in the skin. If you aren't well-versed with free radicals, these are basically unstable atoms that contain unpaired electrons. These atoms steal electrons from surrounding cells, leading to oxidation. Oxidation results in damage to cell membranes, proteins, and DNA, ultimately damaging the skin. Skin damage due to free radicals is one of the major factors that stimulate the skin’s aging process and causes irritation, giving rise to various skin woes and aggravating inflamed and sensitive skin. 

• Skin Discoloration

Too much blue light coming in contact with the skin or extended periods of exposure to low levels of blue light can cause pigment changes in the skin cells. As a result of these changes, you may notice uneven skin tone or hyperpigmentation. So, if you’re observing brown spots, freckles, melasma, and age spots on your skin, it may be an indication of skin damage due to blue light. Consider limiting your screen time and taking protective measures to fight the effects of blue light. Those with darker skin are more susceptible to discoloration due to blue light.

• Inflammation and Redness

As mentioned earlier, exposing the skin to too much blue light can cause cell breakdown, collagen damage, and oxidation due to free radicals, which may end up in redness, itching, puffiness, and infections on the skin. Moreover, if you’re already combatting inflammatory skin problems, including acne, eczema, rosacea, and psoriasis, blue light can further worsen your problem and lead to flare-ups of these conditions in your skin. 

How to Protect Your Skin from Blue Light?

It’s needless to say that reducing your exposure to blue light from digital devices and the sun can lower the risk of skin issues associated with it. However, it’s easier said than done. For many of us, using computers, tablets, and mobile phones is a crucial part of our professional, personal, or educational lives. Hence, it may be unrealistic to think of ditching these devices completely. One of the practical and feasible solutions is enabling the skin to fight off the damaging effects of blue light. We recommend DAYNALYN Vitamin C Serum, which is specifically designed to reverse and prevent the adversities caused by blue light.

Why is DAYNALYN Vitamin C Serum Your Best Option?

At DAYNALYN, we take pride in offering all the natural ingredients needed to protect the skin from blue light in the form of our vitamin C serum. The formula is rich in gold stabilized vitamin C that is bioavailable and absorbs deeper into the skin, yielding optimal benefits of vitamin C. The serum contains gold (Acetyl Heptapeptide-9), a collagen-boosting peptide that’s attached to gold to prolong the bioactivity of the peptide from 30 minutes to 36 hours. The resulting compound produces intense wrinkle-lifting action in the skin. 

Furthermore, DAYNALYN vitamin C serum is a powerful source of Pseudoalteromonas Ferment Extract, which elevates the synthesis of collagen and enhances the skin’s hydration level, strengthening the lipid barrier. A stronger barrier enables the skin to combat oxidative damage, preserving its youthful, glowing, and healthy appearance. Other active components of the serum include ascorbic acid, glutathione, terminalia ferdinandiana fruit extract, tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate, and coenzyme Q-10.

The Bottom Line

While technology has made our lives a lot easier, there are some drawbacks to using electronic devices. They have added to our worries about long-term and frequent exposure to harmful blue light. The sun isn’t the only source of blue light anymore. The time we spend using our electronic gadgets may lead to a plethora of skin woes, like premature wrinkles, hyperpigmentation, fine lines, and inflammation. Your best defense against blue light is using our vitamin C serum abundant in antioxidant and anti-aging ingredients.

We hope this article will guide you about how blue light can wreak havoc on your skin and why you need to take measures to protect your skin from it.