These days, it's as if you can no longer do anything without it having some sort of negative impact on your health, and your smartphone is no exception.
We can all admit that we probably don't clean our phones enough, if at all. But we're not just talking about the amount of germs it accumulates. New research suggests that the blue light emitted by our phones might be damaging our skin!
On the light spectrum, blue light falls somewhere in "between UV rays (from the sun) and infrared rays (from heat)." Don't fret. According to dermatologist Dr. Patricia Ceballos, unlike UV rays, blue light doesn't cause skin cancer because "it doesn't induce DNA mutations the same way the sun does."
So how does your phone affect your skin?
Too much exposure to your smartphone can cause hyperpigmentation. There are also some studies that indicate that blue light gives off infrared radiation, although they're all still highly speculative.
When it comes to aging concerns, Dr. Ceballos reassures that "the likelihood that blue light leads to premature aging of the skin is very remote." However, Dr. Alicia Barba adds that though blue light is significantly less of a worry than UV rays, protecting against it might still be beneficial for your skin. You can do so by religiously wearing sunblock and buying a blue light protector for your phone.
This article originally appeared on Cosmo.ph.
Minor edits have been made by the Femalenetwork.com editors.
