'Selfies may damage your skin, cause wrinkles'

London, Jun 19: Selfie-addicts, take note! Constantly exposing your face to the light and radiation from smartphones may damage your skin, speeding up ageing and promoting wrinkles, dermatologists have warned.

Doctors can tell which hand a person holds their phone in just by looking at which side of the face is most damaged, they said.

"Those who take a lot of selfies and bloggers should worry. Even the blue light we get from our screens can damage our skin," said Simon Zoakei, Medical Director of the Linia Skin Clinic in the UK.

Experts feel that electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones ages skin by damaging the DNA. It can cause breaks in the DNA strand which can prevent skin repairing itself and place oxidative stress on cells, ultimately promoting wrinkles, 'the Telegraph' reported.

"You start to see dull dirty looking texture that you cannot identify on one side of the face," said Zein Obagi, who founded the Obagi Skin health Institute in the US.

"I think we need to create a defence mechanism, light has some sort of magnetic think that is happening to the skin. This magnetic field is altering the minerals in the skin. A sunscreen will not protect you," said Obagi.

PTI