Ladies, we all love taking selfies. Admit it – we feel a certain thrill when we take a selfie that is just right and makes us look utterly fabulous. Blame it on Snapchat and Instagram, but holding our phone at an arm’s distance while pouting away at the camera has pretty much become part of our daily life.
While you may be looking for the right filter to get your skin looking perfect, all those selfies could actually be damaging your skin. Yup, sorry to crush your Instagram dreams, but selfies could actually be ageing your skin prematurely. London-based lifestyle blogger, Mehreen Baig, investigated the harmful effects of a phone’s HEV light on our precious skin.
26-year old Mehreen takes an average of 50 selfies every single day since she’s the model and photographer for her blog. Now that’s a hell lot of selfies right? When she started noticing a few problems with her complexion, including freckles, pigmentation, larger pores and dark circles, she decided to pay a visit to a dermat – Dr. Simon Zokaie.
Also read: The REAL Reason We Love Taking Selfies!
The cosmetic dermatologist had a detailed chat with her, asked her to take off her makeup and explained to her that the 3 main factors that damage our skin are sun exposure, pollution, and HEV light. He also examined her face under a skin scanner, which is a robotic machine that analyzes pore sizes, wrinkles, sun damage, skin damage from pollution and moisture, and HEV damage.
Image: Blogger Mehreen Baig on Instagram
They came to know that her skin was indeed quite damaged by HEV light, which was evident through pigmentation and dark spots on her cheeks. What is even scarier is that a lot of the damage occurs under the skin and is not yet visible to the naked eye.
HEV damage can also be blamed for breakouts that take long to settle. This is because the skin loses its ability to heal and protect. It’s obvious then that we definitely need to take some precautionary measures. Sunscreen cannot protect against HEV damage – the best thing that doctors recommend is using an antioxidant serum during the day and following that up with a sunscreen for SPF protection. Serums penetrate the pores better and can be more effective in slowing down skin damage. At night, it’s smart to use an antioxidant cream, which is thicker.
Also read: 3 Things You Do While Sleeping That Are Ruining Your Skin!
Of course, the smartest thing to do is to stop taking selfies altogether. But in this world of technology and social media, that could be next to impossible. Do make a conscious effort, though to cut down on your selfie addiction and protect your skin 24 hours a day with antioxidants, so that you can have #NoFilter-worthy skin always! 😉
Images: Shutterstock
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