The sun can cause your skin to develop worse hyperpigmentation and darken the existing patches and marks. Looking for ways to protect your skin can be difficult, but one common method is by using sunscreen. While many people think of sunscreen as only protecting against harmful cancer cells, the reality is that sunscreen can help you protect the patches on your skin as well so that they don’t darken when exposed to sunlight.
How Does the Sun Affect My Skin?
First, let’s cover how the sun’s rays can affect your skin. The ultraviolet light from the sun penetrate into the skin and can cause deadly cancer cells to grow. This is becoming more common as people spend more time in the sun. Additionally, when the UV rays hit the skin, the body responds by trying to protect the skin from becoming damaged. The way it does this is through producing more melanin as a way to fight back against the rays. The melanin acts as a barrier and protects the skin. Unfortunately, the increased melanin means increased color in our skin, which results in a darker complexion. So, while the colored marks are actually trying to protect us, we may find it irritating if we don’t want marks and spots on our skin.
Sunscreen’s Role in Protecting Your Skin
So, how does sunscreen protect us from hyperpigmentation? Well, its main purpose is to create a barrier from the harmful UV rays and our skin, so that nothing can pass through. When the UV rays are blocked from even entering our skin, the melanin content stays normal and does not increase. However, this is only true for “physical” sunscreens. Usually, these are natural and are good for sensitive skin.
Chemical sunscreens, on the other hand, are those that enter into the skin and acts as a defense against the UV rays. They absorb the rays and prevent them from affecting any increased pigmentation. Unfortunately, chemical sunscreens are usually not natural and don’t work best with sensitive skin, although they do protect your skin quite effectively.
How Often Should I Apply Sunscreen?
The big question is how often you should be applying sunscreen. It is an inexpensive product but having to apply it very frequently can be a hassle and cause you to waste lots of money. Knowing how much product to apply to your skin depends on your skin type. If you have darker skin, then you don’t have to apply as much sunscreen as someone with lighter skin. Additionally, the amount of time you spend exposed to the sun can affect how much you need. If you won’t be out for long, then you can go by without having to apply anything. However, if you’ll be out for longer, then you should definitely consider applying more.
Conclusion
Hyperpigmentation can be difficult to deal with, but using products like sunscreen can help you maintain it. You’ll be able to keep your skin healthy and prevent any further growth of color pigmentation. To read more about how hyperpigmentation works, as well as how lightening and whitening can affect it, we recommend you look at this article.