Since the beginning of working from home, we would have naturally accustomed our daily habits to being at home. Staying indoors might shelter us from the harmful UV rays; we are not. Therefore, if you are asking, do we need to apply sunblock at home, the answer is yes.

Even though some UV exposure is important for health functions such as the production of vitamin D, we would have known that there are two types of harmful UV rays: the long-ray UVA and short-ray UVB. Both UV rays can cause different degrees of damages to our skin.

If you keep your window closed, the standard glass windows block UVB rays so you would not get sunburnt sitting by the window, but not UVA rays. UVA rays penetrate through the windows, causing degrading of collagen leading to premature ageing. However, it would be unlikely as Singapore is too warm not to have our windows open. As such, we are still vulnerable to both UVB and UVA rays in the house. So, sunblock is useful even when we are at home.

Besides the harmful UV rays that we must protect our skin against, we ought to be aware of blue light which is a short and high energy wavelength. There are natural sources of blue light such as the sun, but human-made devices like digital screens, the LED and fluorescence bulbs emit blue light too. Although there are no large enough studies done to show how exactly blue light affects our skin, this study from the Journal of Investigative Dermatology suggests that blue light exposure can lead to hyperpigmentation. Thus, a whole day of online meeting and working on the computer is not great for our skin. Why not also protect our skin against blue light?

As Hillary Fogelson says, sun protection does not need to be complicated or expensive - it needs to be consistent. We should always protect our skin no matter where we are. Ensure that your sunblock is at least SPF 30 and protects you against both UVA and UVB rays. 

If you are looking for a sunblock especially suitable for your skin type, LinC Aesthetic Clinic provides customised sunblock. For more information, you can visit our products page here.