5 Secrets about Mobile Phones and your Skin

You wake up in the morning and reach over to check your phone. That is how most of us start our day. The mobile phone has become an adult pacifier without which most of us cannot function. Like children, without our pacifier, we get fidgety, restless and anxious. The result: most of us suffer from the new age disease – Nomophobia (no mobile phobia), even if we are not aware of it. But none of us stop to think about the effects this new age habit has on our now maturing skin. Here are 5 secrets you probably didn’t know…

1. Mobile-phone-Dermatitis :-
Dermatitis is inflammation of the skin. Recent studies have shown that holding a mobile phone close to the skin can cause swelling, redness, itching or blistering near the cheekbones, ears, jaw or hands, commonly termed as mobile phone dermatitis. Metals such as Nickel and Chromium are responsible for this. These are widely present in almost all mobile phone casings.

The Solution: Use hands-free devices like headsets or Bluetooth or put your phone on speaker mode whenever you can to avoid direct contact with the skin.

2. Premature Wrinkle-ation:-
Today, time is not the only factor that is responsible for the occurrence of wrinkles. In fact, people in their 20’s have started complaining of crow’s feet around the eyes. Constantly staring at the small screens of mobile phones and squinting to read the small –font-text can lead to wrinkles around the tech-neck area (area underneath the chin and around the neck) and vertical furrows between the brows.

The Solution: Experts recommend that you hold your phone at eye level and increase font-size to avoid these skin problems. Also use eye creams with a cooling applicator to help relax the eyes, skin firming creams to boost elasticity and the production of collagen.

3. Your Phone and Acne :-
Every square inch of your cell phone has around 25,000 germs, making it one of the most unsanitary things you come in contact with on a daily basis. In fact, your toilet seat is cleaner than your mobile phone! With each phone call, these germs transfer onto your face and can lead to an outbreak of acne.

The solution: Clean your phone daily with an antibacterial wipe and remember to maintain hygiene before exchanging phones with others as well.

4. Phone induced Pigmentation:-
Mobile phones tend to get warm after prolonged use. When these devices get warm they tend to interrupt the normal melanin production of your skin, causing dark-spots and uneven tones in the long run.

The Solution: Try and limit the length of calls. If that is not possible, remember to keep alternating your ears when speaking on the phone. This will help reduce the occurrence of dark spots.

5. Night time routines and Dark Circles :–
Part of our night ritual has become to check out the latest FB posts or what the twitterati are up to or maybe even the latest WhatsApp forwards. But, when our eyes look at a bright screen in a dark room for too long, our brain has a harder time relaxing and getting into sleep mode. The time the body needs to wind down and relax itself gets taken up with more stimulation. This results in loss of good, restful, rejuvenating, much-needed sleep.

The Solution: As a best practice, avoid your mobile phone after dinner. Instead of logging onto social media, take an hour to just relax and wind down.
So even though it may be hard to start and manage your day without your trusty side-kick by your side, you can definitely work towards weaning yourself off those night-time log ins. This is will go a long way in keeping you and your skin healthy, well rested and hence happy. Remember to always enjoy the skin you are in and stay Beauty Eternal.