The main causes of all these changes are exposure to free radicals such as; smoking,  over-exposure to the sun,  pollution, stress, lack of sleep, poor diet, cold weather,  alcohol, poor skin care regime, gravity and lack of exercise.  Historically, we were always led to believe that genetics were the main driver for healthy skin, but now we know that simply isn’t true and these free radicals bombarding our skin on a daily basis is by far the biggest player.  How we protect and arm our skin to cope with these extrinsic factors is therefore vitally important.

The sun’s rays can take a toll on your skin, and in the short-term, that can mean contending with a scorching sunburn. But there can also be long-term consequences lurking within the skin, even if you don’t experience a burn. When the sun prematurely ages the skin, this is called photoaging, and this can lead to skin cancer.  Dermatologists refer to the damage the sun does to skin by several names, including photoaging, photodamage, solar damage, or sun damage. It happens when ultraviolet (UV) light hits skin unprotected by sunscreen, causing DNA changes at a cellular level. Because photodamage happens in the deepest layers of the skin—the dermis—it can take years before the damage surfaces and becomes visible.