I’ve worn sunscreen almost every day for the past 5 years, so I was quite shocked to see how much sun damage had accumulated on my skin!
According to the device…I’m in the 27th percentile for UV damage UV skin health.
I’d in the 73rd percentile for UV damage, meaning only 27% of people with my skin type, age group, and gender tested by the device have more UV damage than me!
My face when I opened this photo full screen
Some of these marks may be caused by hyperpigmentation from the odd acne lesion, but the marks on my nose are definitely freckles. I noticed more freckling this summer and even went through a series of chemical peels to reduce them. While they’re invisible to me, the UV camera still picked them up!
The sunscreen I use, Ombrelle Complete SPF 60 Lotion, has high SPF coverage as well as newer-generation UVA sunscreens, and should have a high UVAPF as well. Though, because Health Canada doesn’t require UVA protection testing, we can’t know for sure.
Because of that, I’ll be switching to a European sunscreen that has the tested UVA protection on the packaging – Bioderma Photoderm Max Lait SPF 50+ / UVAPF 42.
I also think my problem is not reapplying my sunscreen enough throughout the day – clearly plenty of UV (UVA especially, which is responsible for skin pigmentation as well as cell and DNA damage) is still making it through to my skin.
Thanks to Alexandra at the Aviva Clinic in Toronto for allowing me to use their Visia Complexion Analysis machine. They offer a free session with the Visia, but if you’re not in Toronto try searching “Visia + Your City” and I’m sure you’ll find a clinic that offers a free session as well.
I also had the chance to test how layering products on top of sunscreen affected its ability to adhere to the skin. It took longer than I had hoped and I didn’t collect as much information as I wanted to, but I’ll be sharing the results soon!
(The squares on my forehead are eyeliner…not some oddly shaped sun damage)
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I’ve shared this post on /r/AsianBeauty, /r/SkincareAddiction, and on MakeupAlley
