I am a big fan of anything that promises to counter age spots. In this context, age spots are essentially:
- Pigmentation that arises because of over-exposure to UV radiation
- Solar lentigo that is a larger patch of a dark spot that also arises due to over-exposure to UVR.
Damages caused by UVA radiation
A brief reminder of how important UVA filters are in a sunscreen, because most damage is done by UVA radiation.
Look and feel of the sunscreen
- Slightly fragranced
- Doesn’t sting eyes, so easy to apply to under and eye lid area
- Formulation is hydrating and moisturizing (so no need for additional moisturizer)
- Formulation is not heavy (unlike Bioderma Photoderm AR SPF50+ for reactive skin) so its easy to reapply
- Its slightly fragranced – its not unpleasant – I think it smells like green tea
Would I buy this Bioderma sunscreen again?
Happily.
The strategy of the product is straightforward: use a stable form of Vitamins C and E and the combination of both improves their efficacy. In plain English, Vitamin C performs better with Vitamin E around.
The label says that it prevents and corrects visible signs of photoaging after 28 days. Much depends on which climate this is tested in, age, sun exposure etc. I live in an environment where the average daily temperature is 40C for 6 months of the year and I have severe pigmentation. I know this is not going to work for me, so before you beat Bioderma about claims, its always good to be realistic about your own expectations.
Where can I buy this sunscreen?
In Europe the best place to buy Bioderma sunscreens is here
The Bioderma Spot-Age SPF 50+ available in India on Nykaa at this link is a different formulation to what I have. This is what appears on Nykaa, and I suspect its the old formulation:
Happy Skin Days’ test
Passes my simple test
***Geek details***
Harmful chemicals (such as BHT, Oxybenzone, Formaldehyde releasing preservatives) are absent.
Protection against UVB radiation is being provided by a combination of DBT (3rd ingredient) and broadspectrum BEMT (7th ingredient) and DHHB (5th ingredient).
The UVA filter is principally Avobenzone (4th ingredient) that is stabilised and supported by BEMT and DHHB
DBT provides superior UVB protection upto about 315nm and then horrific UVA protection (haha).
Avobenzone, is a gold standard albeit photo-unstable filter against UVA radiation. Available evidence shows Avobenzone degrades quickly upon exposure to sunlight, reducing its efficacy by as much as 50 and 90 per cent after 60 minutes of exposure. This product relies on other filters especially BEMT to stabilise it.
BEMT and DHHB have following features:
- Broadspectrum (so cover UVB and UVA regions)
- BEMT provides superior UVB protection and its UVAI protection starts to taper off at about 360nm
- DHHB provides excellent UVAII and UVAI protection upto 360nm
- Are large molecules, so no skin absorption
- Photostable, so don’t break down as soon as they come out of a tube.
- Are effective even at low %