Allergy to the sun. Or how to treat summer hyperpigmentation

As noted in the previous article, there are problems that we face in the summer. One of these problems is hyperpegmintation - the appearance of unusual age spots under the influence of sunlight.

I will make a reservation right away: this article mentions ways to protect and get rid of acquired age spots that appeared only in due to the action of UV radiation, other types of spots (post-birth, age, chloasma, etc.) will be considered later in another article).

Let's go back to our spots. In order not to get them, the skin must be protected with the help of special means - for example, creams with an SPF factor. Moreover, if you look more deeply, everything is not quite that simple.

The SPF factor is just one of the generally accepted types of indication of the degree of protection from sunlight. There are other species, but we will not dwell on them, since it is SPF that is the most widespread species.

Further, there are several components that provide the very same protection against the sun. There are physical filters that reflect UV radiation and there are chemical filters that absorb it. Which filters are involved will determine the consistency and other properties of the sunscreen. For example, titanium dioxide will at first seem to whiten the skin, which makes it not the most desirable ingredient in face creams.

Well, in the end, there are several types of UV radiation (we will move on to its international name - UV): UVA and UVB, alpha and beta. The waves differ in their frequency and the degree of penetration into the skin: UVB causes melanin synthesis and tanning. UVA causes photoaging and can trigger skin cancer.

As the website writes http://pro-lico.ru, different filters block different types of UV rays. And if you fill the cream with a filter that protects the skin from the wave responsible for the gradual darkening and tanning of the skin, then the skin will not be protected from photoaging. Unfortunately, most protective cosmetics protect us from visible sunburn without blocking the waves that cause skin damage and cancer in the long term. Therefore, manufacturers are obliged to add filters to cosmetics in certain proportions: the UVA protection factor must be at least one third of the UVB protection factor.

That's it, physics is over, I promise not to load it anymore)

In the end, what do we have? In order not to get pigmentation in the form of spots or freckles, you need to take very careful care of sun protection, moreover, it is better to start from February-March. Also useful should be information on the correct selection of a specific SPF factor for your skin color.

And what to do, how to treat, if pigmentation has already appeared, and in general, outside the window it is far from February or March?

First, I'll tell you what NOT to do. All chemical peels, lasers and other instant procedures are simply prohibited when the sun is active.

The pigment that gives us so much trouble is formed quite close to the surface of the skin, and gradually comes out to the very top. Due to its deep cleansing action, any whitening procedure exfoliates the top layer along with pigment, which makes the skin very thin - too thin to independently withstand any external factors. In total, instead of bleached skin, we have incredibly sensitive skin that reacts inadequately to everything, including new portions of sunlight.

But no one forbade the use of cosmetics, which “slowly but surely” removes the surface layer and whitens the skin. Yes, you will have to wait for a visible effect many times longer, but the skin will be intact, like the nerves) Whitening agents are used at night, while cosmetics with a protective factor are applied during the day.

Alternatively, for the summer, you can use concealers (tones, concealers, other tricks) in order to hide already acquired age spots. I will not say how effective it is, or rather, how effective it is - for me it’s better to prevent than to suffer. Although, I agree, everything always happens far from the way we originally planned ..