What is Free Radical Damage and How Does It Affect Your Skin?

If you are skin care obsessed, then you probably have tried to research what exactly causes aging. There are many things that can contribute to aging but one term you might have come across frequently is free radical damage. What exactly is free radical damage?

Free radicals are tiny particles that savage the cells in your body. They steal electrons from healthy cells in order to stabilize. This process is called oxidation, which causes damage in your DNA. How do you come in contact with these free radicals? There are many sources of free radicals such as smoking or an unhealthy diet. However, this main production of free radicals is the sun.

UV rays produce free radicals that cause damage in your skin cells, changing your DNA. This not only speeds up the aging process, but can also lead to skin cancer. Think your tan looks good? It’s actually a type of scar your body produces by increasing melanin production in order to protect your skin from more injury against the sun. Doesn’t sound too good now does it?

The skin is the largest organ of the body. It’s our first line of defense against environmental stressors that cause free radical damage. While it’s hard to avoid sun exposure, there are ways to protect your skin. SPF is always important to protect against skin cancer. Another key for healthy skin is the use of antioxidants. They help slow the aging process and help prevent UV damage by protecting and repairing the DNA damage inside the skin cells. This is the basis of Skin Over Everything – treating the skin inside and out.