The genetically determined rate at which your skin ages is known as intrinsic ageing. But there is a far more powerful force in the aging equation: the sun. There are few among us who don’t grumble about getting old, too soon. In terms of your skin, the complaint is very valid because the sun’s rays do indeed age your skin faster than time alone can. Its ultraviolet and infrared rays irradiate bits of DNA and cause thermal injury. The destruction itself and the concentration of effort required to repair it, speeds up the natural ageing process many times over. Skin which is sun-damaged beyond its years is referred to as prematurely-aged or photo-damaged.

Old Before Your Time? Get the Anti-Aging Sun Protection Facts

In fact, some dermatologists go far as to say that up to 80 per cent of aging signs are due to photo-damage while others, myself included, are reluctant to put such a figure on it. There is absolutely no doubt that the sun prematurely ages the skin, but I feel that we do not yet know enough to specifically quantify the extent of that acceleration.

The sun emits rays of varying wavelengths.

Physicists divide its ultraviolet rays into:

  • A – the longer, more lethargic length,
  • B – which are shorter and more energetic, and
  • C – which are so frenetic that it has the power to mutate the DNA of all living things. (Happily, the ozone layer still filters out almost all UVC since if much of it got through it would actually threaten life on earth.)

Both UVA and UVB reach the earth’s surface and are a menace to our skin. UVB is often called the ‘burning’ ray as it is primarily responsible for the visible and sometimes very painful effects of sunburn. It also dries out your skin and most importantly increases your risk of skin cancer.

UVA is often known as the ‘ageing’ ray because it generally causes the wrinkling and sagging that, as little as 15 years ago, were thought of as the natural, and inevitable part of the ageing process.

Free radicals — aging menace to your skin

They may sound like the scare-mongering pseudo-scientific invention of a cosmetics’ marketeer but free radicals are a real, destructive force in the everyday life of every cell of your body. A free radical, also known as a radical oxide, is a rogue molecule created during the natural cell oxidation process. Devoid of a crucial electron, it will endeavour to wrest one from wherever it can, often tearing apart healthy body cells in the process. When it does so, it creates more electron-missing molecules and so a vicious circle of damage begins. A certain number of free radicals in the body is perfectly normal. Indeed, some help to combat bacteria, fight malignant cells, and can dilate blood vessels and affect blood clotting. But many are highly destructive and can irreversibly damage nucleic acids, proteins, lipids and the skin’s connective tissues.

Our bodies are well equipped to fight off these vicious molecules with natural antioxidants such as superoxide dismutase, glutathione and melanin. It can also get help from vitamins A, C and E which give up their electrons for the greater good of our cells. But when the number of free radicals overwhelms the available electrons, healthy cells are the victims. Free radical damage makes the cells more vulnerable to degenerative diseases, not just of our skin, but of all body tissues. Much of today’s disease and anti-ageing research is now focused on the preventive effects of a diet rich in antioxidant vitamins.

Under the sun, or in a toxic environment radical production in the skin is vastly accelerated. It is estimated, however, that as little as 1 per cent of the vitamins that we take in make it through to our skin and for this reason dermatologists and cosmetic scientists are attempting to boost our skin’s free radical scavenging power by applying antioxidant vitamins directly to the skin.

In fact, in France, a recently completed satellite study of the government sponsored Supplementation Vitamin and Mineral Antioxidant trial revealed that antioxidant vitamins applied to the skin help to defend the skin against free radical damage. The results showed that vitamins applied to the skin gave it such efficient protection, that it was able to go about its natural repair process unchallenged by further assault. The net result is that not only does skin not deteriorate, but it actually improves as damage already done is, to a degree, undone.