4 min read

Is Your Skin Ready for the Summer Sun?

As the weather slowly warms up, we are going to be spending much more time outside. And unfortunately, a nice summer tan usually accompanies damage to your skin. While the pain of a sunburn may fade, long-term damage to your skin will not.

Many factors affect the health of your skin and how your skin ages. Your lifestyle, diet, exercise habits, location, and DNA all impact your skin. We are constantly inflicting harm on our skin throughout our daily lives. While most sun protection agents can only prevent further damage, there is only one way to reverse prior skin injury while also preventing more harm- Heliocare. Keep reading to learn more!

More about the skin:

The skin’s role as an organ is often neglected. Your skin is a sensory organ, a biofactory for the processing, synthesis, and metabolism of a wide array of structural proteins, glycans, and lipids. Your skin is the largest organ in your body. As you age, the structural and morphological qualities of the skin decline, causing the skin’s many functions to deteriorate. This deterioration cannot be stopped, but it can be slowed by physical, chemical, and environmental changes.

Areas of the body less exposed to the sun depreciate slower than the face and neck- which are constantly influenced by UV irradiation and overexposure. This is why the skin of the face is often subject to premature aging and skin diseases.

Aging skin and genetics:

For some people, the deterioration of the skin happens much more quickly- simply because of their DNA. There are approximately 1,500 genes that impact our skin health. When your genes are working properly, they regulate skin cell production- telling your body to produce new skin cells as aging cells die. But when a gene is not functioning properly, it can create too much or too little of a certain signal. This can cause cells to grow too quickly, which causes acne. Too little of a signal cause cease the repair or rebuild and skin cells following injury.

Your genetic variations impact everything from stretch marks and varicose veins to skin sagging and discoloration. This explains why some people begin to see wrinkles, acne, and skin discoloration at a much younger age than others.

Our genetics also explains why there is such variance among skin health across different races:

Caucasian skin begins aging earlier, with greater skin wrinkling and sagging signs than other skin types.
Asian women are more likely to develop pigmented spots with aging.
Chinese women see a 10-year delay of wrinkle onset compared to French women.
African American and Caucasian women have an increased likelihood of dry skin.
Thai women are more likely to have more wrinkles in the lower halves of their faces.

Women who age slower often have increased activity in genes associated with cell replication, DNA repair, oxidative stress response, and protein metabolism. They also have a higher expression of genes correlated with mitochondrial structure, metabolism, and epidermal structure- all factors that lead to skin health.

What can be done to slow skin damage:

While you cannot alter your DNA, there are several steps you can take to protect your skin from prematurely aging or developing skin cancer:

Use broad-spectrum sunscreen*. This sunscreen has the ability to block both UVA and UVB rays.
Use sunscreen* with a high SPF. The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) recommends 30+ SPF.
Frequently reapply sunscreen*- every 2 hours. More often if you’re swimming, sweating, or exercising.
Limit your direct sunlight exposure. Stay in the shade if outside, especially in peak UV ray time, between 10 am- 3 pm.
Wear a wide-brimmed hat to protect your head, face, ears, and neck on a sunny day.
Wear clothes! Clothing will protect the more sensitive skin on your body.
Regularly go to a dermatologist to screen your skin for moles.

* We recommend using an organic sunscreen with zinc oxide- which will physically block the sun’s rays and shield your skin from UV damage. As opposed to chemical sunscreens that absorb the sun’s rays once they come into contact with your skin. Chemical sunscreens contain toxic chemicals which have found to enter your bloodstream.

The magic of Heliocare:

Dr. Johnson also recommends using Heliocare to protect your skin from the damaging effects of the sun. Heliocare is a powerful formula of antioxidants. Its active mechanism is derived from the Polypodium leucotomos fern. Polypodium leucotomos extract (PLE) has been used for centuries by indigenous peoples to treat skin-related conditions and promote skin resilience. PLE provides protection against free radicals. Free radicals can damage the skin in their attempt to steal electrons from other molecules which cause direct damage to our skin’s DNA. Damage to our DNA results in accelerated skin aging. Heliocare prevents this damage by replacing the missing electron in free radicals.

Heliocare and PLE have many, many great benefits for the health of your skin:

PLE has been proven to act as a photoprotective agent- decreasing UVB damage to the skin.
While Heliocare does not impact the growth of melanoma, it has been demonstrated to reduce the rates of new nonmelanoma skin cancers.
PLE has demonstrated to improve cell membrane integrity and elastin expression- which decrease the aging of the skin.
Heliocare and PLE have demonstrated the ability to protect tissue from sun damage and limiting the inflammatory response that follows.
Heliocare has the potential for application in the treatment and management of skin disorders such as vitiligo, melasma, psoriasis, and atopic dermatitis.
The anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects of PLE have also been shown to decrease the likelihood of immunosuppression in athletes following strenuous exercise.

Several studies have gone so far as to suggest Heliocare is nearly as effective as other photoprotective agents like sunscreen, clothing, and seeking shade. Heliocare is also a more accessible form of photoprotection, as you do not need to worry about reapplication or missing a spot- as the case with sunscreen.