Sun Damage

What is Sun Damage?

Although the sun is a great source of Vitamin D, too much exposure to its UV rays can be harmful to our skin and cause a number of conditions. In the short-term, the suns rays can leave you with a scorching sunburn. But there can also be long-term consequences lurking within the skin, even if you don’t experience a burn. When the sun prematurely ages the skin, this is called photoaging, and this can lead to skin cancer.

Photo damaged skin happens when ultraviolet (UV) light hits skin unprotected by sunscreen, causing DNA changes at a cellular level. Because photodamage happens in the deepest layers of the skin—the dermis—it can take years before the damage surfaces and becomes visible.

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun, or sun beds, causes damage to the DNA of our skin cells. In order to protect themselves from further more serious damage, the cells produce melanin, a pigment within the skin which we recognise as a sun tan.

Over time as we age naturally, the skin becomes thinner as the deeper layers become more damaged. On the skin’s surface the Sun Damage shows up as deeper wrinkles, the appearance of brownish flattened Age Spots or red Facial Veins as the skin tries to repair the increasing damage.

What are the signs of photoaging?

Unlike normal, chronological aging, which is dictated by age and genetics, photoaging happens when ultraviolet light from the sun and/or tanning beds permanently damages the skin’s structure. To see the difference between chronological aging and photoaging, compare skin on an area of your body that is not exposed to the sun with the skin on your face.  

Signs of photodamage begin in the teens to early twenties. Symptoms include the following:

• Wrinkling

• Pigmentation changes such as age spots, liver spots (solar lentigines) and freckles

• Loss of skin tone (decreased elasticity) 

• Rough, uneven skin texture

• Broken capillaries (spider veins), usually around the nose and chest

• Redness and blotchiness

What causes photoaging?

Ultraviolet radiation causes DNA changes in the skin that can lead to premature aging and skin cancer. There are three kinds of UV light:

• UVA light. This form of solar radiation damages skin at all levels—from the surface layer (epidermis) down deep into the dermis. Within those layers, several parts of the skin are affected, including collagen and elastin fibers, which give the skin its youthful tautness and elasticity, as well as epidermal cells and tiny blood vessels called capillaries. 

• UVB light. This type of solar radiation irradiates the outer layer of the skin. UVB damages DNA (more potently than UVA) in the epidermis and can cause photoaging, as well as precancerous cells (actinic keratoses) to form.

• UVC light. This type of solar radiation is absorbed by the ozone layer and atmosphere, and as a result, it is not much of a health risk.

How can you prevent photodamage?

It’s never too late to practice good sun protection to prevent future photodamage. We recommend using a broad-spectrum sunscreen, which will shield skin from both UVA and UVB rays.

Look for a sun protection factor (SPF) of 50 or higher. Water-resistant formulas are encouraged. Reapply every two hours or sooner if swimming or exercising.

The above image shows the effect that sun damage can have on the skin.

This is a 69-year-old man spent 28 years working as a truck driver. You can see that the left side of his face which was exposed to UV rays through his truck window, is visibly more damaged than the right side