Sunlight filtering through glass also can cause wrinkles

LONDON - Avoiding sunscreen and sun bathing are known to cause wrinkles. But there’s some disquieting news for those who thought their skin was safe while driving, or sitting in a conservatory.

The damage caused by sunlight filtering through glass can be so startling that the exposed side of the face can end up looking years older than the other, reports the Daily Mail.

The sun’s ageing effects during autumn months are also far worse than previously realised, a study has found.

Glass does hold back the sun’s ultraviolet B rays, but about 50 percent of ultraviolet A rays that cause skin burning and ageing, do get through.

Leading dermatologists and photobiologists warn that daily exposure to ultraviolet rays means the skin can age more than twice as quickly as skin that is protected.

A team at the University College Hospital, Besancon in France, conducted the first study on how sections of the face age at different rates related to sun exposure.

Researchers said: “Participants showed significantly more clinical signs of facial ageing on one side of their face due to driving or working close to windows over many years.”

One, a 62-year-old sales-woman, had been driving two to five hours a day for 33 years to attend client meetings.

Researchers found that the side of her face closest to her car window looked more than seven years older than the opposite side.

Research by Professor Trevor McMillan and Sarah Allinson at the School of Health and Medicine, Lancaster University, Britain, showed that low dose ultraviolet A, equivalent to a British autumn day, causes up to a 50-fold increase in the expression of certain genes involved in premature skin ageing.

Signs can include dark spots, wrinkles, droopy and leathery skin and broken blood vessels.