Flight attendants' most common skin concerns
SINGAPORE — Air travel can most definitely affect flight attendants’ health, with all that intensive flying - from dry air in the cabin to lack of rest and proper foods.
Dehydration happens to be one of the most frequent skin concerns, especially in lowered pressure cabin. According to Quay Snyder, MD, MSPH, president and CEO of Aviation Medicine Advisory Service, “this air is very dry, having a humidity of under 10 percent.” But, did you know, cabin crew also suffer from another type of skin concern: skin hyperpigmentation.
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At my dermatologist’s clinic today, I showed Dr Tan Siew Kiang, Specialist in Dermatology & Consultant, Raffles Skin & Aesthetics my left hand, with blotches of dark skin colour appearing out of nowhere. At first I attributed it to my new anti-histamine medication, but Dr. Tan was able to pinpoint by first observation. “This is one of the flight attendants’ most common skin concerns. The darken pigmentation happens when skin comes in contact with lemon or oranges. The attendants mostly prepare beverages onboard, and hyperpigmentation occurs when the plant juice chemical called furocoumarins, react to ultraviolet rays.”
So that explains it; I recently returned from a beach trip in Indonesia, and I had constantly refuelled with freshly squeezed orange juice or lemon, and forgetting to apply sunscreen on my hands.
Hyperpigmentation occurs when melanin is overproduced in our skin, thus producing dark spots over our body. Frequently exposed body parts like our hands, arm and legs tend to show. Melanin is your body’s defense system, where it protects our skin from harmful sun rays. But over tanning can cause these dark spots to appear. Once they appear, over sun exposure can further worsen dark spots by creating freckles, age spots to be even darker.
To prevent this from occurring, it is advisable to use sunscreen with SPF30 or 50 factor, and not lower than 20. You should apply the sunscreen last, before your foundation. Beauty experts have advise to not go with foundations alone, as they rarely have enough UVA protection (sun rays that further age skin and cause DNA damage).
