Get smart, get radiant

Overuse of smartphones can adversely affect your skin, warns Soumali Adhikary

It is a common practice nowadays to use our phone just before dozing off as well as checking it just after waking up. This habit of ours has taken precedence during the pandemic. Apart from using the computer or laptop while working, our free time is also all about long video calls with our loved ones or spent sitting in front of the television screen. This increased exposure is known to cause a slew of problems like headaches, neck problems, eyesight issues as well as adverse skin effects like acne, wrinkles to name a few. This has made health specialists issue a word of caution to people about the overuse of smartphones and how they can cause skin problems.

Some of the common skin problems caused by excessive use of smartphones include:

Acne: Each square inch of your phone has around 25,000 germs, making it possibly the most unsanitary thing you interact with consistently. Indeed, your toilet seat is cleaner than your cell phone! With each call, these germs move onto your face and can prompt an outbreak of skin inflammation.

Solution: Clean your telephone every day with antibacterial wipes and make sure to clean it immediately after getting it back from another person who wanted to use it.

Allergies: If you end up getting rashes on the sides of your cheeks, there is a high chance that you are having an allergic response to your phone. Not all, but most mobile phones contain nickel and chromium in their smartphone casings that can cause a response on the face called allergic contact dermatitis.

Solution: The ideal method to manage this is to encase your mobile phone in a plastic case or cover it with a protective guard.

Premature wrinkles: Today, age isn’t the solitary factor that is liable for wrinkles. Indeed, people in their 20s have begun whining about crow’s feet around their eyes. Continually gazing at the little screens of mobile phones and squinting to peruse the little–font text can prompt wrinkles around the tech-neck area and vertical wrinkles between the brows.

Solution: Experts suggest you hold your mobile at eye level and increment text dimension to keep away from these skin issues. Use eye creams with a cooling tool to help loosen up the eyes, and skin firming creams to support versatility and the creation of collagen.

Phone light is harmful: According to researchers and expert dermatologists, a mobile phone’s blue light penetrates deeper into your skin as compared to UVA/UVB light. In simple words, using a mobile phone continually for three hours can cause your skin as much harm as one hour of sun exposure, without sun protection. It can make your skin tan and leave you with several skin problems as well.

Solution: The simple trick to avoid blue light pigmentation is to change your habit of using a mobile phone continuously. You can switch to dark/night mode as well as turn down the brightness of your phone.

(The author is a beauty expert.)