How To Stop Screen Time From Destroying Your Skin

You probably know that spending all day staring at a laptop or smartphone isn't great for you. Blame the blue light emitted from those screens, which can cause eye strain, mess with your sleep schedule, and cause head and neck pain, according to Business Insider. But did you know that your iPhone could be giving you wrinkles, spots, and other skin woes? Too bad you can't use FaceTune to make your "IRL" face as smooth as it looks in selfies! Or ... can you?

In a sense, you can buff away skin damage from screens, according to Dr. Ronald Moy, an award-winning medical and cosmetic dermatologist, facial plastic surgeon, and skincare specialist. "Blue light causes DNA damage to the skin causing pigmentation, wrinkles, and brown spots. Accumulated blue light damage can cause enough DNA damage to the skin, resulting in aging skin including wrinkles, sunspots, and pigmentation," he told The List in an exclusive interview. According to Moy, who is the founder of the skincare brand, Cellular MD, much of these effects can be reversed with topical treatments that will repair your skin's enzymes.

Not just any anti-aging cream will help undo the damage that your phone and laptop have done to your skin, Moy noted. "The most important active ingredients repairing blue light damage are DNA repair enzymes, circadian rhythm proteins, and oral nicotinamide supplements," he said. "These ingredients have been proven to repair damaged DNA in the skin." If you're not sure where to find products with these ingredients, Cellular MD's Night Shield and Sol and Nox formulas are a good place to start, Moy pointed out. "Products that contain epidermal growth factor (EGF) have also been shown to reduce pigmentation and to improve damaged skin," he added.

You can also use lotions that have these ingredients proactively, to prevent new blue light damage from occurring. "To protect our skin from further blue light damage, we can turn to skincare products that contain circadian rhythm proteins, DNA repair enzymes, and epidermal growth factors to repair the DNA damage caused by the blue light," he said. "These ingredients help regenerate aging cells and improve skin appearance." That's not the only way you can save your skin from the ravages of screens, either. "Screen protectors and blue light glasses work to protect us from blue light," Moy said. "Holding the cell phone away from the skin can decrease the DNA damage to the skin caused by blue light from cell phones and computers."