For most of us the earliest and obvious sign of getting old appears when we look in the mirror. Our skin is the first to give the game away. The lines about our eyes, the brown spots that weren’t always there and the uncalled for sagging beneath our chin betray the pitiless hand of Father Time.

Shield Yourself From The Death Star

Living in Australia, we are very aware of the need to protect ourselves against the harmful effects of the sun, but how does the light actually damage our skin?

Light is made up of visible and invisible components and it is the short wavelength light in the ultra-violet component (UV light) that causes the trouble. In turn this UV light is subdivided into UVA, UVB and UVC depending upon the wavelength. The most powerful of these is UVC, which is filtered out by the earth’s ozone layer and so poses no threat.