The blue light of our screens, a new target for cosmetics



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Finding marketing or sustainable claim? The cosmetics industry is starting to launch products against the blue light of digital screens, which would accelerate the aging of the skin in case of chronic overexposure, according to studies lacking recoil in real life.

In small doses, the blue light is not harmful: it is even used as a therapy against skin diseases such as acne, eczema or psoriasis, or even certain dental diseases, thanks to its virtues antibacterialsays Alcimed innovation consulting company.

Howeverin our modern societies, we are really flooded with blue light, for an average of 6 hours a day in France"With smartphones, computers and other tablets," says Catherine Grillon, a researcher in skin biology at a CNRS laboratory in Orléans.

However, a strong and chronic exposure to blue light "may be deleterious" not only for the eyes but also for the skin because it induces "oxidative stress" contributing to skin aging, according to the researcher.

Red pepper and lupine oil

Many cosmetics players, especially SMEs, have entered the breach, while large groups remain "still shy"on this emerging niche, notes Alcimed.

Manufacturers, including many French companies, are competing with choice of badets intended to protect from excess blue light: wheat germ mixed with lupine oil, mica-titanium pearls, red pepper extracts, Chinese herbs or the Andean cordillera …

When the Uriage Lab started digging the question in 2014, "there was really very little"on the subject in the scientific literature, recalls Luc Lefeuvre, director of research and development of the company ..

In tests on in vitro skin models, Uriage found that high exposure to blue light could pigmentation spotsexplains Lefeuvre.

"It is certain that on skin models, as we want to see differences and the action of our products, we maximize the dose so as to trigger an effect on the skin", recognizes the researcher.

"I know my product is effective against blue light, but I still have trouble correlating my model's exposure with reality," he says.

What has not deprived Uriage to launch this year a new anti-aging range containing active anti-blue light, playing on the side prevention.

Little data in real life

For further, "it would be necessary to put oneself in conditions of life real. But since it is a much less aggressive radiation than ultraviolet rays, the impact [de la lumière bleue] will appear maybe after a few months, a few years or even much later", adds Mr. Lefeuvre.

Clinical studies are starting to be conducted by cosmetic badet providers, such as Solabia or Alban Muller. However, they remain modest for the moment, covering a few dozen volunteers addicted to screens and monitored over a few weeks.

The search for irrefutable proof is hard.

Because "like the UV are not very far from the blue light in the wavelength spectrum, it is not necessarily obvious to differentiate them"Their respective effects on the skin," notes Ms. Grillon of the CNRS, not to mention other oxidizing factors for the skin such as pollution, stress or tobacco.

Tatsu Kurebe, a Japanese entrepreneur in the cosmetics industry this week at Cosmetic 360 in Paris, is skeptical.

"In Japan, some companies also market anti-blue light products, but this is not a hot topic. There is no proof which supports"their affirmations, he sweeps.

"There is an effect marketing, that's for sure, like any other pretext to sell a cream", smiles Ms. Grillon.

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