Consider this: your skin is the only organ exposed to the outside environment. Your skin protects and shields all your other organs from the outside world’s constant barrage of bacteria, viruses, pollen, animal dander, UV rays, excessive heat, and pollutants flying around in the air. Then summer brings people outside with short sleeves, shorts, and bathing suits, thereby exposing more of their skin to the sun and other environmental irritants. Studies show that air pollution, which impacts 90% of the world’s population, can worsen skin health. It’s not much better indoors either. The constant hum of the air conditioning dries out the air and the skin. Can air quality affect skin health? Absolutely, yes. And more so in the summer because more of our skin is exposed. Rashes, sunburns, allergic reactions, insect bites, and summer dermatitis flare-ups afflict us all to some extent.
Although only 7.3% of us struggle with eczema flare-ups in summer (and winter), 57.2% of high school-aged teenagers get sunburned each summer. And that number is likely very under-reported. And who has never been bitten by a mosquito or other biting insect?
First, let’s dive into all of the environmental factors that can affect your skin over the summer. The more you’re aware of summer skin dangers, the more you can do to protect your skin against them.
Health experts the world over consider air pollution one of this generation’s worst health dangers. The smoke, smog, soot, mold, C02, methane, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), etc. swirling around in the air for 90% of the world’s population can harm the heart, the lungs, the eyes, the central nervous system, and the skin. Air pollution invades exposed skin through sweat ducts and hair follicles. This damages the skin’s protective properties and can lead to flare-ups of eczema in summer, as well as many other skin problems.
It’s a good idea to keep an eye on outdoor air quality all summer by using the airnow.gov website to monitor our local Northeast Ohio air quality conditions. You can even sign up for alerts on your phone, which you can use to help you plan or reschedule outdoor activities to decrease exposure to unhealthy air pollution levels. Here is the breakdown for deciphering the AQI numbers (Air Quality Index):
As anyone in Northeast Ohio knows all too well, summer heat and humidity can drain the energy out of the most active individuals. Excess heat and humidity can also aggravate skin problems. Bacteria and fungi love warm, humid environments. This can cause itchy rashes, fungal infections, and extra acne breakouts.
And if you thought hiding indoors in the AC was the answer, it’s not. Dry air can aggravate summer dermatitis problems by drying out the skin too much. Rough, dry, cracked skin leaves your skin’s outer barrier more susceptible to other allergens, bacteria, and environmental irritants too. Also, indoor allergens can be just as much of a trigger for eczema in summer as outdoor allergens can.
Speaking of allergens, skin exposure to irritating pollen, mold, dust mites, insect bites, poison oak, poison ivy exposure, etc. all increase over the summer. This can cause eczema flare-ups in summer, as well as irritation for people who don’t have eczema. If you struggle to follow the directive not to scratch your bites and rashes, this only compounds your skin’s misery and vulnerability to infection.
And then there are pool chemicals like chlorine. While it doesn’t happen to everybody, some people experience red, itchy, tender, sore, and even scaly chlorine rashes. These are not allergic reactions, but some people with sensitive skin (especially those with eczema) can experience flare-ups like these. The advice here is to shower quickly before and after any time in the pool.
We all love the sun, but we don’t love that it can cause painful sunburns. We also don’t love how it increases your chances of developing skin cancer. We can’t say it often enough: protect yourself from the sun with good sunscreen, protective clothing, and other sun-exposure avoidance techniques. More on that shortly.
Dehydration can endanger your health in many ways. Your body needs constant water replenishment for all of its organs to work correctly, including the skin. Drink plenty of water all summer and watch for rough, dry, itchy, or scaly skin patches that lack healthy skin elasticity.
Dr. Olivia Arballo is one of our highly skilled, board-certified Northeast Ohio dermatologists in our Solon location. She comes to us here at Apex after serving as the one and only dermatologist at Fort Campbell for a time. She was also the Chief of the Medical Specialty Clinic at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital.
Dr. Arballo helps patients of all ages and with all kinds of skin conditions, using a holistic approach that blends the most advanced, evidence-based techniques with patient education about how nutrition, skincare, and lifestyle factors go into maintaining healthy, glowing skin. We asked her to share her expertise about how environmental factors can impact skin in the summer:
Dr. Arballo has stayed current with the latest research about how increasing air pollution and other environmental factors affect the skin: “I think a lot more research will be done on how we can better mitigate these environmental impacts on the skin in the future,” she says. She comments that everyone should take care to protect their skin during air-pollution-heavy summer days, including:
Arballo often talks with her patients about what an important role nutrition plays along with skin care for healthy skin, particularly during the summer months. Anything people can do to reduce oxidative stress and inflammation in the body can also help skin health, she stresses. Getting adequate sleep, exercising, staying hydrated with water, and eating skin health-boosting vitamins and foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins A, C, and E, and polyphenols can strengthen and nourish the skin against environmental stresses.
Arballo also explains that everybody’s skincare routine needs to adapt seasonally because the environmental factors that impact us change with the seasons. Just as we bring out the bathing suits, shorts, and sandals as we put away our parkas, our skincare needs to adapt to the seasons. She underlines some of the summer skin challenges she helps her patients treat:
Arballo also says that allergens are a major cause of summer dermatitis and other skin miseries: “For people who are sensitive to certain allergens, the summer can cause significant worsening of their skin conditions because those allergens are most active,” she explains. “We also see more cases of allergic contact dermatitis caused by things like poison ivy because people are outside more.”
Furthermore, Dr. Arballo almost never leaves a patient interaction without urging sun protection, especially in the summer. In addition to sunburn and skin cancer avoidance, she stresses that excess sun exposure can cause other skin problems: “The sun is also stronger in the summer, which can exacerbate photosensitive skin conditions like cutaneous lupus, polymorphous light eruption, heat rash, and hyperpigmentation.”
Keeping your skin healthy over the summer depends a lot on your individual skin situation, but some broad, general recommendations make sense for everyone. And true to form, Dr. Arballo brings sun protection up first: “The most important thing to remember is sun protection. Since the sun is stronger in summer, you are more likely to develop sunburns and worsen sun damage,” she warns.
Sun protection should include the following strategies:
In addition to being “sun smart”, Arballo recommends other ways everybody can reduce summer’s environmental assault on their skin:
Arballo also recommends everybody try to stay in the shade or indoors between the hottest, highest sun hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Not only can this help reduce your sunburn risk, but it can also help you avoid dangers like dehydration and heat exhaustion. Arballo adds, “I recommend people do their outdoor activities like exercise in the early morning or late evening when the sun is less strong.”
While the previous recommendations will serve everyone who wants healthier skin over the summer, individual situations vary widely and require extra care from your dermatologist. You may not be able to avoid air pollution or allergens everywhere you go, or you need to spend time outdoors during the heat for one reason or another. You may have skin conditions that require extra care beyond the general recommendations.
For example, people with severe allergies or extra sensitive skin may need to practice avoidance techniques as well as a dermatologist-approved summer skin care regimen.
She adds that even if you can stay indoors often to avoid outdoor allergens, it’s not always ideal in and of itself. Indoor allergens can also exacerbate dermatitis and air conditioning can make dry skin drier. Some ways to improve indoor air quality for sensitive skin health include reducing indoor allergens:
Understand your environmental situation and adapt your skincare accordingly. If you have any concerning skin conditions, talk with your dermatology provider personally. They can diagnose the skin problems you’re struggling with and provide individually tailored skincare solutions to address your unique needs.
Another problem Arballo sees over the summer is that people end up using the wrong skin care regimen or don’t take enough care to adapt their skin protection over the summer because of myths and misconceptions.
Arballo mentions that sun protection should also extend to the hands, especially while driving or working in the garden. Garden work can expose the hands to allergens and the sun. The sun can even burn your hands as they grip the steering wheel on a long summer road trip.
She also mentioned the myth that all clothing is sun protective. It isn’t. When people believe this, they think they don’t need to use sunscreen in clothing-covered areas. Arballo explains that to some extent, most clothing will prevent some UV rays from reaching your skin, but the thinner the cloth is, or the more often it’s been washed, the less effective it will be. She explains that if you plan to use clothing to protect yourself from the sun, look specifically for items with a good UPF (Ultraviolet Protective Factor).
Finally, hydration is important for your skin all the time. Without proper hydration, the skin can become dry, cracked, scaly, and susceptible to infections and other skin disorders. Naturally, staying hydrated by drinking sufficient water every day is important for skin health, but because your skin is exposed to the environment, it needs additional hydration from a gentle cleansing routine followed by a proper moisturizer.
Protecting your skin from all of summer’s environmental irritants can be a challenge, but the entire team at Apex Dermatology in Northeast Ohio is here to help you find solutions. Whether you need suggestions on the right sunscreen for your skin type, a good moisturizer to protect your sensitive skin, or advice about any other skin condition that seems to worsen in the summer.