Can blue light exposure damage your skin? Find out!

In today's era, there's hardly anyone who isn't glued to their mobile or laptop screens all the time. From helping you with your daily tasks to being a rather prominent part of your jobs, these screens have now become a part of your daily routine. But the one thing that can be problematic due to these screens is their blue light emission. This light, unfortunately, can be bad for your skin like the sun's rays is bad for your skin.

Also known as High Energy Visible Light, this blue light is commonly emitted from sources such as laptop screens, cellphones, tablets, televisions and certain types of light bulbs. As per Harshna Bijlani, "frequent exposure to blue light causes pigmentation, free radical damage and breakdown of collagen, resulting in accelerated skin ageing." Now, if this isn't ringing alarm bells in your head we don't know what will. So, what should you do to protect your skin from this light?

Dr Harshna Bijlani says, "Similar to UVA and UVB, try and limit your exposure to HEV light. You can use skincare products that are made to protect your skin from blue light exposure. The Beyond Sun Protection by Crystal Tomato® sunscreen is one such option(Rs 7,196 at the Ageless Clinic)."

"Apart from that, we know that mobile phones emit dangerous radiation, we know they are receptacles of germs - yet we love them and have them stuck to our cheek lovingly for many hours of the day! I would suggest that it’s best to limit time in front of your phone, use a blue light reducing filter or setting (some of the newer phones have it as a built-in option) and most importantly use a handsfree headset but ideally a wired one (Bluetooth may have its own issues but we’ll leave that for another day)"

Much like she said, the best things for you to do is opt for skincare and beauty products that can help bounce off this light. And also make sure that you limit exposure to screens as much as possible. Stay tuned for more updates.