By Dana G. Smith in the NYT
Have you ever looked at the skin on the buttocks of a 90-year-old? Dr. Fayne Frey has. “It’s beautiful,” said the dermatologist and author of the book “The Skincare Hoax.” “There’s very little pigment, there’s very little wrinkling, there are very few blood vessels.”
Compare that to the skin on a nonagenarian’s face, where you’ll likely see brown spots, scaliness, visible blood vessels, much more wrinkling and a generally sallow appearance.
Some signs of aging, namely fine lines, happen naturally over time. But Dr. Frey said that as much as 80 percent of the skin changes we associate with age are actually caused by the sun’s ultraviolet rays. The best way to avoid them, aside from staying indoors, in the shade or permanently covered up? Sunscreen.
Sunscreen’s ability to block sunburns and prevent skin cancer is well known, but many dermatologists say it’s also the best skin care product for slowing signs of aging. Here’s what to know about how UV rays cause the skin to age and how sunscreen helps to minimize those effects.
How UV rays damage the skin
There are two categories of ultraviolet light: A and B. UVB wavelengths are shorter and primarily affect the top layer of the skin. UVA rays are longer and can penetrate deeper (they can also travel through glass, so don’t assume a window keeps you safe from sun damage).
Years of exposure to both UVA and UVB rays damages cells on the top layer of the skin, called keratinocytes. When that happens, the skin starts to look red, rough and scaly in patches — a condition called actinic keratosis.
“It’s due to DNA mutations that occur specifically in the keratinocytes, and they then proliferate and become abnormal,” said Dr. Lena Von Schuckmann, a dermatologist and clinician researcher at the University of Queensland in Australia. In some cases, actinic keratosis can become cancerous.
Below the keratinocytes are the melanocytes — the cells that produce melanin and cause the skin to darken. UVA rays primarily activate these cells, resulting in a suntan. (Sunburn is different; it’s caused by UVB rays injuring the top layer of the skin.) With long-term UV exposure, the melanocytes become damaged, resulting in permanent hyperpigmentation. These brown spots are sometimes called sunspots, age spots, liver spots or their technical name, solar lentigines.
Collagen and elastin, which keep the skin elastic and supple, reside in the next layer down. UVA rays trigger the breakdown of those proteins, causing wrinkles as the skin loses its elasticity, as well as the thinning of skin, making blood vessels more visible.
There’s no real way to boost collagen and elastin artificially (there’s scant evidence for the power of supplements and creams), but cells called fibroblasts do continue to make the proteins as you age, although production slows down. As a result, some dermatologists say it may be possible to reverse some signs of aging.
If you start using sunscreen early and consistently enough, “and the fibroblast is still young enough or healthy enough to be able to produce more collagen,” the appearance of wrinkles could diminish over time, said Dr. Henry Lim, a dermatologist at Henry Ford Health and a former president of the American Academy of Dermatology. The key is making sure collagen levels aren’t depleted further by sun exposure while the cells work to replenish the protein.
But Dr. Von Schuckmann said the jury is still out: “We certainly have studies to show that sunscreen used on a daily basis reduces skin aging. Whether or not it reverses skin aging, that’s a little bit tricky to differentiate.”