Sunscreen is one of the most effective products you can apply to your skin to protect it from the sun. An excellent sunscreen with vigorous UVA and UVB block can prevent you from getting sunburnt, reduce the development of wrinkles and other indications of ageing, and minimise your risk of skin cancer.
As such, it is very important to use sunscreen every day, especially if you are planning to head outside on a sunny day. However, despite its great importance, many people still forget or refuse to apply sunscreen to their skin on a regular basis. This is a big deal since not using sunscreen can have some significant impacts on your skin.
In this article, we have listed the most common effects that can occur when you constantly skip your daily sunscreen application.
1. Sunspots and sunburns
Sunspots and sunburns are the most noticeable effects of prolonged exposure to the sun without sunscreen. Sunspots are little, flat, and dark areas on the skin that develop when your skin is exposed to sunlight for an extended period of time. They differ in size and typically appear on exposed areas, such as the face, arms, hands and shoulders. Sunspots are also often associated with tenderness, itching, and a burning sensation.
Sunburns, on the other hand, are burns on the skin that result from excessive exposure to the sun’s UV radiation. A sunburn is essentially an inflammatory reaction to UV radiation damage that is caused on your skin’s outermost layer. Sunburns typically appear as hot, red, painful patches with blisters on the skin. The burnt skin usually peels off after a couple of days.
2. Skin darkening
As part of its natural defence against UV radiation, your skin generates melanin in excessive amounts. Melanin is basically the substance in your body that produces eye, hair, and skin pigmentation. The more melanin your skin produces, the darker your skin is. This is the reason why people, who are exposed to the sun for a long time, notice their skin darkening after a while. This can ultimately leave you with an uneven skin tone and dark patches.
3. Premature ageing
If you do not apply sunscreen to your skin, the UV radiation can cause significant damage to your skin’s collagen and connective tissue. This, in turn, results in the loss of your skin’s elasticity, thereby causing saggy, wrinkled, and aged skin. This is the reason why you may sometimes find people in their 20s or 30s with wrinkles already. Overexposure to sunlight without applying sunscreen basically causes premature ageing.
4. Dry skin
When your skin is directly exposed to the sun, without sunscreen protection, it can cause the loss of the natural oils and moisture from your skin. The UV rays from the sun can essentially damage and even kill your skin cells. This then leads to dehydration and the development of dry and rough patches on your skin’s affected areas. As your skin’s outermost layer is damaged by sun exposure, it thickens and dries, thereby causing rough, flaky skin.
5. Skin cancer
Excessive sun exposure without protection may not only affect your skin quality but can also have a significant impact on your health. Particularly, UV radiation can result in irreversible DNA damage that can produce a gene mutation and eventually prompt cancer in your skin. In skin cancer, the skin cells multiply quickly to develop a malignant tumour. Depending on its type, skin cancer can rapidly grow and become life-threatening if not treated early.
Conclusion
Sometimes, it is easy to forget or ignore the importance of using sunscreen, especially if you are not planning to go outside of your home. However, skipping sunscreen can actually have several immediate effects on your skin. Aside from causing you to develop sunspots and sunburns, as well as darkening and drying your skin, sun exposure without sunscreen protection can ultimately impact your overall appearance and well-being.
If you notice any of the aforementioned effects on your skin, you should consider seeking the help of a reputable aesthetic medical clinic in Singapore, like Tokyo Garden. Tokyo Garden offers a variety of effective and reliable treatments that can restore the natural beauty and health of your skin, such as the Profhilo® injection that improves skin firmness, the Q-switch Nd-Yag Laser that targets pigmentation conditions, and the Anti-Wrinkle treatment that prevent wrinkle formation. Our other treatments include TightSculpting® for unwanted fat and Laser Hair Removal in Singapore, to name a few.
If you are interested in our services and would like to make an appointment, you can do so by filling out a form here.
