Sensitive skin is characterized by:

• A thin epidermis with blood vessels close to the surface
• A red and blotchy appearance
• Tautness over bone areas
• A crepe-like or delicate texture
• Some cases of sensitive skin can have over-active sebaceous (oil) activity.
• External conditions such as chemical, mechanical, atmospheric irritation, and fluctuations in temperature can easily affect the skin.
• Internal conditions, such as stress or illness, can affect skin appearance. Blood vessels dilate in reaction to stress.
• The heat generated from the redness creates a tendency towards dehydration.

Sun Damage

Sun-damaged skin can reveal itself in a few different ways. Wrinkles, hyperpigmentation, epidermal or dermal dehydration and collagen breakdown may be visible.

Cellular Skin Changes Caused by UV Radiation

Sunlight has a profound effect on the skin, causing premature skin aging, skin cancer, and a host of skin changes. Exposure to ultraviolet light, UVA or UVB, from sunlight accounts for 90% of the symptoms of premature skin aging.

What is UV Radiation?

The sun gives off ultraviolet radiation that we divide into categories based on the wavelength.

• UVC – 100 to 290 nm
• UVB – 290 to 320 nm
• UVA – 320 to 400 nm

UVC Radiation

UVC radiation is almost completely absorbed by the ozone layer and does not affect the skin. UVC radiation can be found in artificial sources such as mercury arc lamps and germicidal lamps.

UVB Radiation

UVB affects the outer layer of skin, the epidermis, and is the primary agent responsible for sunburns. It is the most intense between the hours of 10:00 am and 2:00 pm when the sunlight is brightest. It is also more intense in the summer months, accounting for 70% of a person’s yearly UVB dose. UVB does not penetrate glass.

A positive effect of UVB light is that it induces the production of vitamin D in the skin. So a little sun exposure in the early morning or late afternoon is recommended.

UVA Radiation

UVA was once thought to have a minor effect on skin damage, but now studies are showing that UVA is a major contributor to skin damage. UVA penetrates deeper into the skin and works more efficiently. The intensity of UVA radiation is more constant than UVB without the variations during the day and throughout the year. UVA is also not filtered by glass.

Damaging Effects of UVA and UVB

Both UVA and UVB radiation can cause skin damage including wrinkles, lowered immunity against infection, aging skin disorders, and cancer. Some of the possible mechanisms for UV skin damage are collagen breakdown, the formation of free radicals, interfering with DNA repair, and inhibiting the immune system.

Collagen Breakdown

In the dermis, UV radiation causes collagen to break down at a higher rate than with just chronologic aging. Sunlight damages collagen fibers and causes the accumulation of abnormal elastin. When this sun-induced elastin accumulates, enzymes called metalloproteinases are produced in large quantities. Normally, metalloproteinases remodel sun-injured skin by manufacturing and reforming collagen. However, this process does not always work well, and some of the metalloproteinases break down collagen. This results in the formation of disorganized collagen fibers known as solar scars. When the skin repeats, this imperfect rebuilding process over and over wrinkles develop and the skin loses its elasticity.

Free Radicals

UV radiation is one of the major creators of free radicals. Free radicals are unstable oxygen molecules that have only one electron instead of two. Because electrons are found in pairs, the molecule must scavenge other molecules for another electron. When the second molecule loses its electron to the first molecule, it must then find another electron repeating the process. This process can damage cell function and alter genetic material. Free radical damage causes wrinkles by activating the metalloproteinases that break down collagen. They cause cancer by changing the genetic material, RNA, and DNA of the cell.