As a beauty journalist, I have endless skincare buzzwords and wellness conspiracy theories competing for space in my brain. When I noticed “blue light” cropping up in skincare discourse years ago, I was sceptical. The notion that light from our phones and laptops was seeping into our skin had a ring of marketing hype.
One way dermatologists assess the skin’s likely reaction to different types of UV light, including blue light, is with the Fitzpatrick scale. It’s a classification system used since 1975 to measure the risk of burning from sunlight based on skin tone, with Fitzpatrick 1 denoting extremely fair skin and Fitzpatrick 6 denoting extremely deep skin.
Dr Deshan Sebaratnam is one dermatologist who feels there has not been sufficient testing outside laboratories to justify dedicated anti-blue light skincare routines, which means the efficacy of these products is hard to measure. ”We don’t have established standards, compared to SPF standards, that govern protection against ultraviolet light,” says Sebaratnam.