NaturaLift MD Review Blog

Sunlight causes the skin to age, develop wrinkles, and triggers almost all skin cancers. How can this, the source of life on Earth, be so destructive to the skin? How can you prevent and reverse the damage from years of chronic exposure?

When you look in a mirror under good light, you see the effects of sunlight on the skin: the onset of fine wrinkles, established coarse wrinkles, sallow complexion, loss of luster, drying and cracking, and sagging. It’s not too late to reverse the aging process.

First of all, there are three - not two - forms of dangerous rays. And, since UV-A actually is composed of two variants, there are really four!

• UV-A. UV-A, with a wavelength from 320nm to 340nm, causes skin cancer and wrinkles. There is a longer-wavelength UV-A with a wavelength between 340nm-400nm.
• UV-B. The wavelength of UV-B has a frequency range from 290nm to 320nm. It causes sunburn and contributes to skin cancer and wrinkles.
• UV-C. This has the strongest energy, and potentially the most destructive. UV-C is, however, effectively filtered by ozone in the upper atmosphere.
• “Blue Light”. And finally there is the visible sunlight range, which scientists call blue light. This is not that special to the skin, especially if you’re one of those unfortunate individuals who have visible light sensitivity.

Here are the known adverse actions of sunlight on the skin:

Free radicals. These are toxic molecules resulting from exposure to ultraviolet radiation. Oxygen, the essential element to life, is damaged and contributes to the creation of reactive oxygen species. Free radicals can oxidize fatty molecules, a process known as lipid peroxidation. That’s a catastrophe because the cell needs a functional plasma membrane to sustain life. When the membrane is damaged by lipid peroxidation, the cell begins to age rapidly and die. This membrane is composed of two layers of fatty substances, which, when oxidized, fail to function. These oxidation bullets” attack at random, but the more unblocked sunlight hitting the skin, the more free radicals are generated in all layers of the skin.Free radicals are generated not only by ultraviolet sunlight: weather, and other pollutants such as smoke, chlorine, harsh detergents, and cosmetics also create them.

Reactive oxygen species damage cell membranes by the peroxidation of fatty acids in the phospholipid structure of the membrane. Unfortunately, the process doesn’t stop there. Peroxidation forms lipid peroxide radicals, lipid hydroperoxides, and other lipid fragmentation products, which are active oxidizing agents. This chain reaction, in which electrons are removed from lipids such as cell membrane phospho-lipids, give rise to more lipid radicals. As long as there is oxygen in the system, this chain reaction will continue and lipid peroxides will continue to accumulate until they are reduced by antioxidants in the skin.

Free radical reactivity generates a chain reaction of many free radical species production, enhancing skin aging and skin cancer.

Loss of Fat-Soluble Nutrients. The top of the skin is covered by natural protective secretions called skin surface lipids (SSL). These are: “… a very complex mixture of sebum mixed with small amounts of epidermal lipids, which mantle the human epidermis, thus representing the outermost protection of the body against oxidative insults.” The body of a well-nourished, healthy, and non-stressed child or an older person may make an adequate amount of coenzyme Q-10. However, exposure to four times the amount of sunlight that causes just some redness of the skin depletes protective SSLs by 70% of coenzyme Q-10 and 84% of vitamin E.

Cumulative Ultraviolet Light Exposure. Sub-chronic sunlight (UV-A and UV-B radiation) exposure is the sum of what you’ve been getting all your life. It does not result in sunburn or a noticeable tan, but it wreaks havoc on the skin. In 2002, scientists finally examined this problem histologically and found these harmful effects:

• After just one month, there was obvious epidermal hyperplasia (thickening of the outer layer of the skin). In three months, that progressed to “… epidermal thickening and formation of epidermal ingrowths projecting into the dermis.”
• The “… keratinocytes were somewhat pleomorphic.” These keratinocytes developed “… cytoplasmic projections which migrated into the dermis.” What should have been a well-defined junction between the epidermis and dermis, the basement membrane,” began to “… disappear along with the development of edema spreading from the upper dermis to the epidermis.”
• Furthermore, “… [i]n the dermis, in addition to edema, fibroblast proliferation and mast cell infiltration progressed with time, and degranulation was obvious at two and three months. In the upper dermis, especially beneath the epidermis, decrease in diameter and disintegration of collagen fibrils (the main structural protein compound of the skin) were observed.”

That was after only three months.

Although body needs vitamin D to build and maintain strong bones and creates it from sunlight, exposure to ultraviolet sunlight also damages skin and is a significant factor in the development of skin cancer. Therefore, the body developed a natural defense against ultraviolet radiation that allowed the synthesis of vitamin D: melanin pigmentation. Since the equatorial zone of the Earth receives much more sunlight than northern zones, races and ethnic groups native to this region usually have much more melanin than those whose genetic roots are in the northern hemisphere.

The relative dearth of sunlight in the northern climate zones dictated that the skin of those who developed there have far less melanin so that they can synthesize an adequate amount of vitamin D in body fat. Fish liver oil can help supply vitamin D - the discovery and exploitation of the cod fisheries in the north Atlantic is one of the main reasons for the colonization of North America by northern Europeans.

Although all metabolic functions, including exercise, generate free radicals, exercise is much more beneficial for you than the little harm caused from free radicals it produces. Neither glass windows nor most clothing fully block sunlight, adding to sub-chronic exposure.