Your Cell Phone May Be Aging Your Skin (Video)

It’s not just the sun we have to worry about. Turns out, the cellphones we’re all carrying could be giving us wrinkles. Nathan Rousseau Smith has the story.

You might be a little behind. Because the new focus in skincare isn’t outdoor light, rather, indoor. That’s the blue light that emits while you’re scrolling on Instagram, or bingeing your favorite Netflix show on your computer, or simply the light that you absorb while minding your business reading a freaking book.

You know by now from the countless sunscreen stories we write that we’re supposed to sunscrwear protection all day every day. But you probably didn’t know that you needed protection indoors as well. Evolving studies from the National Center for Biotechnology Information, the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, the American Academy of Dermatology Association, are finding that the new keyword in skincare is HEV. That’s t, for those of you who don’t know. It’s a fancy term for “blue light,” the same that emits from all of our screens, from phone, cameras, tablets, computers, and more. We already know the negative effects of blue light when it comes to harming our sleep (we did an entire week of sleep stories!), but you’re probably shaking now, knowing that it can damages your skin, too.

Said studies show that blue light could lead to skin damage, accelerated aging, skin pigmentation, and more. “There are controversial studies that suggest blue light damage could have negative effects on your skin,” says Dr. Y. Claire Chang, a dermatologist at the Union Square Laser Dermatology in NYC. “I’d suggest sunscreen and protection even on days you are indoors.”