The Non-Surgical Symposium was another huge success this year and one of my favourite things about this event are the things I learn. I always come away from the NSS with knowledge I didn’t have before and I love that I can pass that on to our readers. Dr Yohei Tanaka, a plastic surgeon from Japan, was one of my highlights and presented some really interesting information on photoageing and how we may not be using the right sunscreens in Australia to stop photoageing.

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Trish: Hey listeners today. It’s a bit noisy around here. I’m here at the Non-Surgical Symposium 2018 up on the Gold Coast. I’ve just come back from a really interesting talk and it was about sunscreen and photo ageing and Dr. Yohei Tanaka from Japan, who’s a plastic surgeon in Japan. He did a lovely presentation, and I just wanted to have a talk, ’cause he’s going to tell us that apparently there’s only one sunscreen on the market that prevents photoaging. So every single sunscreen that you’re buying on the market these days in Australia can not prevent photoaging, so I wanted to get some insight. So you’re gonna have to listen carefully, because Dr. Tanaka is actually from Japan, so English is not his first language, so just listen really carefully, but thank you so much for joining us today.

Dr. Tanaka: Thank you so much for giving me opportunity.

Trish: Pleasure.

Dr. Tanaka: Yeah, thank you.

Trish: Pleasure. So I listened to your talk, and I was really surprised when you said that there’s the sunscreen that we have doesn’t prevent photoaging. So first of all, what is photoaging?

Dr. Tanaka: Photoaging is very harmful to us human because you will care about the UV protection, but UV protection is not sufficient. Photoaging is induced by UV and visible light and near infrared.

Trish: Okay, so basically, UV light, and near infrared, and …

Dr. Tanaka: Visible light.

Trish: Visible light, combined …

Dr. Tanaka: Combined, yes.

Trish: Combined, makes photoaging.

Dr. Tanaka: Yes, because please imagine, solar incident energy, UV is just seven per cent of incident of solar energy.

Trish: Okay.

Dr. Tanaka: And over ninety per cent cause is visible light and near infrared and the biological effect of visible light and near infrared is so significant, so we should know about this. The effects of visible light and near infrared. But everybody doesn’t know how harmful long term exposure of visible light and near infrared induce photoaging.

Trish: Okay, so business when we’re getting a UV sunscreen, all we’re stopping is that seven per cent of the ultraviolet light from the sun and that’s all we are stopping?

Dr. Tanaka: Yes.

Trish: And then the other ninety whatever is comprised of visible light and near …

Dr. Tanaka: Visible light and near infrared. We cannot prevent … we cannot block with standard sunscreens. Australian sunscreens are so good, so good, to block the UV but not so good to block visible light and near infrared.

Trish: Okay.

Dr. Tanaka: So everybody uses sunscreen but no one can prevent photoaging so far.

Trish: Okay. So what is photoaging? Photo ageing is when …

Dr. Tanaka: Photoaging maybe hyper pigmentation or photocarcinogenesis, cataract by UV and photo … so now let me see, sagging, muscles seeming, blisters and photocarcinogenesis induced by near infrared.

Trish: Okay. So basically just being out there and just covering the UV, might stop the UV rays, but it’s not gonna stop you from ageing.

Dr. Tanaka: Yes.

Trish: Because the other elements are gonna come into force, which is the visible light and the near infrared. Got it.

Now during the talk as well, there is one product in Australia.

Dr. Tanaka: Ah, yes. I forget.

Trish: I was really excited when you told me because I’m gonna ditch all my sunblock and go and buy this. So tell us a little bit about it.

Dr. Tanaka: I thought I should know which sunscreen is good or is there good sunscreen available so I bought some sunscreen and I evaluated transmittance of spectrum of sunscreen from well known international companies and surprisingly, no products, except Rationale, Australian cosmetic company can block visible light and near infrared, only Rationale sunscreen can block photoaging.

Trish: Okay, so in the whole of the world, the only sunscreen that you buy that can stop the photoaging is the Rationale sunscreen.

Dr. Tanaka: Yes.

Trish: So how did you do the test? What did you use to do the test to find that out?

Dr. Tanaka: In the lab, using a spectrophotometer.

Trish: A spectrophotometer. Okay.

Dr. Tanaka: And I used zero point one millimetre and I injected samples and evaluate transmittance through 200 millimetres, nanometers, to 2600 nanometers, so from UV, visible light and near infrared.

Trish: So that’s pretty exciting to know, if you’re gonna wear a sunscreen, it’s good to just block out the UV, so we buy a UV sunscreen, but if you actually want to stop the ageing process as well, which is what comes from the natural light and the near infrared light that’s all around us all the time, the only sunscreen for that is the one by Rationale.

Dr. Tanaka: Yes.

Trish: Wow.

Dr. Tanaka: So I have to check another one but so far only one.

Trish: Okay. And if you do find another one will you let us know so that we can keep updated with it as well?

Dr. Tanaka: Yes of course. Yes of course.

Trish: That would be great. It’s so interesting because I never thought … I just thought if I was using sunblock on my face, everything’s okay. It’s gonna stop the sun, it’s gonna stop the ageing but that’s not the case.

Dr. Tanaka: So everybody should aware how best we can protect ourselves. Everybody used standard sunscreen, but it’s not perfect yet.

Trish: Yeah. It’s better than nothing but if you can get a better one …

Dr. Tanaka: We can block UV but UV is just one part, one element of photoaging. We should aware the effects of visible light and near infrared and we should use sunscreens which can block not only UV but also visible light and near infrared too.

Trish: Yeah. So we need the sunblock that’s got all three. The UV blocks the natural, sorry the visible light and the near infrared.

Dr. Tanaka: Yes.

Trish: Okay perfect and I was gonna ask you one more question. Oh yeah because a lot of people say to me, ” What’s the most important thing I can use for my skin?” And I always say the most important thing is a sunscreen, so now the most important thing is a sunscreen that actually blocks the UV …

Dr. Tanaka: Yes.

Trish: And the visible light and the near infrared.

Dr. Tanaka: And the near infrared.

Trish: And then you’re done and dusted. You’ll be looking after your skin for the rest of your life. All right.

That’s been so interesting. I was so happy to listen to your talk today.

Dr. Tanaka: Oh thank you so much.

Trish: I’m a bit obsessed with the sunscreen. Thank you so much.

So listen, if this has piqued your interest as it did mine, Rationale have actually got the sunscreen that Dr Tanaka has explained. You can drop us an email if you want to find out about it, to info@plasticsurgeryhub.com.au or otherwise google it, that’s Rationale, R-A-T-I-O-N-A-L with an E on the end.

So thank you so much for your time today.

Thank you.

Bye.