How to Protect Your Skin From Visible Light | Lab Muffin Beauty Science

Summary

Lab Muffin's video delves into the effects of visible light, particularly blue light, on skin health. It explains the difference between UV, visible, and infrared light, highlighting that blue and violet light, due to their high energy, can cause skin damage similar to UV rays. The video discusses the impact of different colors in the visible spectrum on skin, emphasizing that blue light can lead to pigmentation and free radical production. It suggests protection methods, including the use of antioxidants and avoiding direct exposure to light, and hints at upcoming content on blue light from screens.

Takeaways

• 💡 Visible light, particularly blue and violet light, can cause skin damage, similar to UV rays.
• 🌞 The Sun's light consists of 3-7% UV, 44% visible light, and 53% infrared radiation.
• 🔵 Blue and violet light, which fall between 400-500 nanometers, have higher energy and are most likely to damage the skin.
• 🔬 Research on the effects of visible light on the skin is still developing, and past studies may not be fully accurate.
• ⚠️ Blue light increases skin pigmentation and dark spots, especially in people with darker skin tones.
• 🧬 Free radicals produced by blue light can damage skin cells, leading to aging and other skin issues.
• 🟥 Red light, unlike blue light, doesn't harm skin and may even speed up skin recovery.
• 🧴 Sunscreens with zinc oxide and titanium dioxide are less effective against visible light, but iron oxide in foundations can offer some protection.
• 🍃 Antioxidants like vitamin E and certain plant extracts can help reduce skin damage from visible light.
• 🕶️ Avoiding exposure through shade, hats, and clothing is a recommended strategy to protect the skin from visible light damage.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the video script by Lab Muffin?

The main focus of the video script is to discuss the effects of visible light, particularly blue light, on the skin and how it can cause damage similar to UV rays.

What are the three types of light emitted by the Sun mentioned in the script?

The three types of light emitted by the Sun mentioned are ultraviolet (UV) light, visible light, and infrared (IR) radiation.

What is the energy level of UV light compared to visible light and infrared light?

UV light has shorter wavelengths and higher energy compared to visible light and infrared light, which have longer wavelengths and lower energy respectively.

Why is blue light of particular interest when discussing visible light damage to the skin?

Blue light is of particular interest because it, along with violet light, has the shortest wavelengths and highest energy within the visible light spectrum, making it more likely to cause damage to the skin.

What is HEV light and why is it significant?

HEV light stands for high-energy visible light, which includes blue and violet light. It is significant because it has been found to cause damage to the skin similar to UV damage due to its high energy.

How does the damage caused by blue light compare to that caused by UV light?

While both blue light and UV light cause skin damage, they have different effects. UV light directly damages DNA and causes specific microscopic changes in the skin, whereas blue light is thought to cause damage through the production of nitric oxide and free radicals.

What role do free radicals play in the skin damage caused by visible light?

Free radicals, produced by visible light, are highly reactive and can attack substances in the skin like DNA and proteins, leading to skin damage that results in an uneven texture.

How do different colors of visible light affect the skin differently according to the script?

Different colors of visible light can have opposite effects on the skin. For example, blue light has been shown to cause skin cell death and increase pigmentation, while red light has no effect on cell death and can speed up skin recovery.

What is the difference in the pigmentation caused by UVA1 and visible light in people with darker skin?

UVA1 causes a grayish pigment that slowly turns brown, while visible light causes a brown pigmentation immediately.

How much more visible light is needed compared to UV light to have a noticeable effect on the skin?

Studies have found that between 8 to 30 times as much visible light is needed compared to UV light in terms of joules per square centimeter to have a noticeable effect on the skin.

What are some ways to protect the skin from visible light damage?

Some ways to protect the skin from visible light damage include using products with antioxidants, staying in the shade, wearing hats and protective clothing, and using ingredients like iron oxide that can protect against visible light.

Outlines

00:00

🌞 Understanding Blue Light and Skin Damage

The video script discusses the impact of visible light, specifically blue light, on the skin. It explains the difference between UV rays, visible light, and infrared radiation, highlighting that while the Sun emits a spectrum of light, it's the high-energy visible (HEV) light, particularly blue and violet, that has the potential to cause skin damage. The script delves into how blue light, due to its shorter wavelength and higher energy, can lead to the production of nitric oxide and free radicals, which are known to attack DNA and proteins in the skin, leading to aging and pigmentation issues. The research on visible light's effects is not as advanced as that on UV light, but emerging studies suggest that blue and violet light can have similar damaging effects as UV, especially in individuals with darker skin tones.

05:02

🛡️ Protecting Skin from Visible Light

This paragraph explores methods of protecting the skin from the damaging effects of visible light. It clarifies that traditional mineral sunscreens, which contain zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, are not effective against visible light as they primarily absorb UVA and UVB rays. The script suggests that iron oxide, an ingredient commonly found in foundations, can offer some protection against visible light. Additionally, the use of antioxidants, such as a mixture containing vitamin E, feverfew, and soy, can help neutralize free radicals caused by visible light exposure. The video also emphasizes the importance of avoiding direct exposure to light, recommending staying in the shade, wearing hats, and protective clothing as effective preventative measures.

Keywords

💡Visible Light

Visible light is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that human eyes can perceive, typically ranging from 400 to 700 nanometers in wavelength. In the context of the video, visible light is discussed in relation to its potential to cause skin damage, similar to UV rays, but through different mechanisms. The script mentions that the Sun emits visible light, which is a significant part of the energy we receive from it, and it emphasizes the role of blue and violet light within this spectrum as having the highest energy and thus being more damaging to the skin.

💡Blue Light

Blue light specifically refers to the blue segment of the visible light spectrum, with wavelengths around 400 to 500 nanometers. The video script highlights blue light as a subject of interest due to its shorter wavelength and higher energy within the visible light range, which can lead to more significant skin damage. It is often grouped with violet light under the term HEV (high-energy visible) light and is a primary focus of the video's discussion on light-induced skin damage.

💡UV Rays

UV, or ultraviolet, rays are a type of electromagnetic radiation with shorter wavelengths and higher energy than visible light, extending from 10 to 400 nanometers. The script explains that UV rays are one of the main causes of aging skin and contrasts them with visible light, noting that despite comprising a smaller percentage of the Sun's energy, UV rays cause more damage due to the higher energy of individual photons.

💡Infrared Radiation

Infrared radiation (IR) has longer wavelengths than visible light, ranging from 700 nanometers to 1 millimeter, and is characterized by lower energy. The video mentions infrared as part of the Sun's emitted spectrum, with 53% of the Sun's energy being infrared, but it is less studied in terms of its effects on skin compared to UV and visible light.

💡HEV Light

High-energy visible (HEV) light is a term used to describe the high-energy end of the visible light spectrum, primarily blue and violet light. The script uses the term HEV light to emphasize the potential damage these colors can cause to the skin due to their high energy, similar to the damage caused by UV rays.

💡Free Radicals

Free radicals are reactive molecules with unpaired electrons that can interact with other substances in the body, causing damage. In the video, free radicals are mentioned as a key mechanism by which blue and violet light can damage the skin, attacking DNA and proteins, leading to uneven skin texture and other signs of aging.

💡Antioxidants

Antioxidants are substances that can neutralize free radicals, preventing them from causing damage. The script discusses the use of antioxidants, such as vitamin E and feverfew, to mitigate the effects of free radicals generated by visible light exposure on the skin.

💡Pigmentation

Pigmentation refers to the coloration of the skin, which can be affected by various factors, including exposure to different types of light. The video explains how blue light can increase pigmentation and cause dark spots on the skin, especially in individuals with darker skin tones, through the formation of free radicals.

💡Mineral Sunscreens

Mineral sunscreens, often containing zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, are discussed in the script as not being fully effective against visible light, despite their common association with physical blocking. The video points out that these ingredients work more like chemical sunscreens by absorbing certain wavelengths of light, and thus may not provide complete protection against the damage caused by visible light.

💡Iron Oxide

Iron oxide is mentioned in the script as an ingredient used in foundations that is effective at protecting the skin against visible light. This highlights an alternative approach to traditional sunscreens for protection against the damaging effects of visible light.

💡Skin Tone

Skin tone refers to the color and type of an individual's skin, which can influence how it reacts to different types of light. The video script discusses how the effects of visible light, particularly in causing pigmentation, can vary depending on a person's skin tone, with darker-skinned individuals being more susceptible to visible light-induced pigmentation.

Highlights

Visible light, especially blue and violet light, can cause skin damage similar to UV radiation.

Blue light, also known as HEV (High-Energy Visible) light, has higher energy than other colors of visible light, making it more damaging to the skin.

Research on visible light's impact on skin is less advanced than UV research, and older studies may have mixed UV and visible light, leading to unclear results.

Blue light has been shown to cause skin cells to die, slow down skin recovery, and increase pigmentation, particularly in people with darker skin.

In contrast, red light can promote skin recovery and does not increase pigmentation, showing that different colors of visible light have varied effects on the skin.

Blue and violet light can produce free radicals like nitric oxide, which can damage DNA and proteins in the skin.

Free radicals from blue light can slow down skin cell production and break down collagen, leading to uneven skin texture and aging.

Visible light does not directly damage DNA like UV light but can still cause significant skin damage, particularly through free radical production.

UV and visible light affect skin differently: visible light causes brown pigmentation, while UVA1 causes a grayish pigment that later turns brown.

People with darker skin are more susceptible to pigmentation from visible light, with 30 minutes of midday summer sunlight in Texas being enough to cause visible light damage.

Mineral sunscreens, even with thick layers, are not effective at protecting against visible light, despite common misconceptions.

Iron oxide, commonly found in foundation, is effective at protecting against visible light, but there's no standard measurement for this protection like SPF for UV.

Antioxidants, such as vitamin E and feverfew, can reduce free radicals from visible light by half, providing some protection for the skin.

Avoiding light exposure, using shade, hats, and clothing, can be more effective at protecting the skin from visible light damage than relying solely on skincare products.

Future topics include discussing the potential skin damage from blue light emitted by screens, such as phones, laptops, and tablets.

Transcripts

it's lab muffin here your resident beauty science nerd and today we're

going to be talking about visible light more specifically we're going to be

talking about blue light and what that does to your skin we all know about UV

rays from the Sun damaging your skin and you might have also heard of infrared

radiation but what about the wavelengths of light that we can actually see will

they damage your skin how can you protect your skin from visible light

let's take a closer look the Sun produces a lot of light as well as the

wavelengths of light that we can see which is called visible light

there's also ultraviolet or UV light which has shorter wavelengths and higher

energy UV is one of the main causes of aging skin on the other side at longer

wavelengths than visible light there's low energy infrared or IR radiation the

energy from the Sun that we get on earth is about three to seven percent UV 44%

visible light and 53% infrared even though there's less UV in total UV ends

up causing more damage because each individual UV particle or photon has

more energy it's like being hit with a single bullet or being hit with a bunch

of balled up tissues that way the same as ten bullets but there's been more

research that's been finding that visible and infrared wavelengths can

also cause skin damage

so why is blue light the color that everyone's interested in and not the

other colors like red or yellow? most of the time when people say blue light what

they really mean is blue and violet light and the reason why these colors

are more damaging is because of physics shorter wavelengths of electromagnetic

radiation from the Sun have more energy in sunlight UV has the shortest

wavelengths which is up to 400 nanometers visible light is longer from

400 to 700 nanometers so it's lower in energy

infrared has longer wavelengths from 700 nanometers to 1 millimeter and out of

these 3 it has the lowest energy if we zoom into the visible light region the

order of the colors is ROYGBIV red orange yellow green blue indigo and

violet infrared is past the red end while ultraviolet is past the violet

end blue and violet have the shortest wavelengths of the visible region around

400 to 500 nanometers and therefore out of all of these colors it's got the

highest energy so these colors of light are the ones that are the most likely to

cause damage that's similar to the UV sun damage that we've been researching

for years and years because of their higher energy blue and violet light is

often called HEV light which stands for high-energy visible light

the research on the impact of blue and visible light on your skin isn't as

advanced as the research on UV so it's a bit less clear exactly how it causes

damage to your skin and to make it more confusing older studies on the effects

of blue light aren't as valid because the electromagnetic spectrum is a

continuous spectrum there isn't any sort of strict divide between

ultraviolet and visible-light except for what human eyes can and can't see a lot

of the time the lights used in the older studies actually produce UV as well as

blue and violet light this means that the effects that they found could have

been from the stray UV light and not actually because of the visible blue and

violet light at all here's what the research shows so far about light and

skin just like how UVA and UVB have different effects on the skin different

parts of the visible light spectrum can also have different effects depending on

their wavelength which translates to color or energy different colors in the

visible light spectrum can even have opposite effects on your skin here's

what the studies have found in cultured human skin cells in in vitro studies

blue light caused skin cells to die while red light had no effect in animal

studies blue light slowed down skin recovery after it was irritated while

red light sped it up and green and white light didn't make a difference in people

with dark skin blue light increased pigment and caused dark spots on the

skin while red light didn't so far it seems that blue and violet light are the

colors of visible light that caused the most damage to skin and it seems like

they caused this damage by producing nitric oxide free radicals these free

radicals are really reactive because they have an unpaired electron which

means that they can attack other substances in your skin like DNA and

proteins I've talked about free radicals before in my video on antioxidants that

I've linked in the caption below there's a lot of different types of damage that

free radicals can cause they can slow down skin cell production and they can

break down collagen for example so with all this free radical damage you end up

with damaged skin that looks more uneven

in texture even though both visible light and UV light both cause skin

damage it's important to note that they have different effects on your skin so

you can't compare the two types of light directly for example visible light

doesn't directly damage DNA but UV does visible light also doesn't cause the

same microscopic changes in your skin that UV does UV for example increases

inflammatory interleukin 8 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha and p53 which is a

tumor protein that suppresses cancer both UV and visible light caused

pigmentation or skin darkening in people with darker skin but the pigment caused

by visible light lasts longer than the pigment caused by the longer wavelengths

of UV called UVA1 the exact color of the pigment is also different UVA1

causes your skin to get a grayish pigment that slowly turns brown after a

while but visible light causes pigment that's brown straight away

you also need different amounts or doses of UV and visible light to have a

noticeable effect on skin each particle or photon of UV has more energy than

each photon of visible light so again it's like a bullet versus a balled up

tissue but the total energy to have an effect on your skin is also different so

with the tissue analogy not only do you need enough balls of tissue to get the

same weight as a bullet you actually need a whole lot more different studies

have found that you need between 8 and 30 times as much visible light as UV in

terms of the units for light energy which is joules per square centimeter

the effects of visible light also depends on the type of skin you have in

terms of skin tone in one study none of the tested

amounts of visible light caused pigmentation in people with light

fitzpatrick II skin but people with darker fitzpatrick IV to VI skin

developed more pigment the smallest amount of visible light that causes

pigmentation in all of the dark-skinned people in one study was 40 joules per

square centimeter this translates to about 30 minutes of sunlight in midday

in summer in Texas one theory for why visible light has different effects on

dark skin and light skin is that visible light might interact with melanin to

form damaging free radicals the ones that I talked about earlier so if you

want to protect your skin from visible light what can you do you might have

guests with mineral sunscreens that contain zinc oxide and titanium dioxide

but that's not quite right even though a lot of people call these

ingredients physical blockers they don't actually work that way they mostly work

just like organic also called chemical sunscreens that absorb some wavelengths

so even in studies where they used a really thick layer of mineral sunscreen

they still didn't protect against visible light but there are some

ingredients that can help iron oxide which is used as the main pigment in

foundations is effective at protecting your skin against visible light but

there isn't a standard for measuring how well any sort of product protects

against visible light so there isn't a well-used measure for how well something

protects against visible light like how we have SPF for UVB and PPD for UVA

since visible light causes damage via free radicals antioxidants can also soak

them up which I've talked about before in another video the one that I've

linked in the description one study found that the free radicals from

visible light were halved when an antioxidant mixture with vitamin E and

feverfew and soy was used on people's skin and

just like with UV avoiding exposure to light can work better than just using

skin care products you can stay in the shade

you can wear hats and clothes as well to protect your skin from visible light

damage and that's all for today's video I hope you liked it and you learned

something new next time I'll be talking about whether or not you should be

worried about skin damage from blue light from screens like your laptop

phone tablet or computer stay tuned to find out more as always subscribe follow

yay science see you next time for more nerding