Sunlight Exposure to the Skin: Can We Shield the Bad and Enhance the Good?

Who Should Attend
This course is designed for individuals in the pharmaceutical and personal care industry who are involved in the development of skin products for day exposure. It will be especially valuable to professionals in the areas of Research and Development and Sales and Marketing.

Description
Sunlight exposure on earth can be divided into five different wave lengths: UVC (100-280nm), UVB (280-315nm), UVA (315-400nm), visible range (or blue light, 400-700nm) and infrared (700nm-1mm). While the damage to the skin from specific wavelengths such as UVA and UVB was studied extensively, less attention is paid to the other wavelengths and their effects on skin. It is known for example that UV radiation contributes to generation of vitamin D, that UVC is germicidal and that infrared can benefit skin barrier properties. It was also recently shown that visible light contributes to the generation of free radicals in skin. Since we know that some sun exposure wavelengths can be beneficial while others are damaging, can we develop products to shield from the bad and allow/enhance exposure to the beneficial?

This 90-minute accredited training session will describe the known biochemical process occurring in skin attributed to the different wavelengths, their damage and benefits.

Module 1:
  • The sun spectrum and its intensity:
    – UVC
    – UVB
    – UVA
    – Blue light
    – Red light
  • Photo aging vs. chronological aging

Module 2:
  • Reactive oxygen species in biological tissues
  • Skin damage from UVB
  • Skin damage from UVA
  • Skin damage from blue light

Module 3:
  • Benefits of infra red exposure
  • Generation of vitamin D in skin
  • Benefits of UVC exposure
  • The psychological factor

Summary and future direction

Question and Answer Session