Josh,

About two years ago, I took a walk in my neighborhood on a bright sunny morning in the early spring. I was wearing a top that had an inner layer made of 100% polypropylene and an outer layer that was made of 100% cotton.

Later that evening, after the sun set, I was soaking my feet by some incandescent bulbs. My face began to itch and sting. I no longer had the original top that I wore that morning on. I remembered some lessons that I learned from a Modern Physics Class. We studied the photo-electric effect. According to Arthur Beiser, the idea of the photo-electric effect is that energies of electrons are liberated by light depending on the frequency of the light.

I asked my husband to photograph my skin that night. Then, I told him that I was going downstairs and covering myself from any form of light. He thought I was nuts. After 15 minutes, I had him check to see if the inflammation was gone. A good amount diminished, so I decided to stay covered for an additional 15 minutes. He was amazed at the difference. (I did not think to take a picture of the end result.)

I did do a photo study of wearing different shirts, sunny vs cloudy days, and recorded my skin condition over time with photos. Then, the duplicate scenario was done months later with the same results, only on a less severe level.

I talked with my professor about this, but he thought it was related to dye colors. Since you-all have a forum and you study skin issues, I wanted to pass along the information.

In my opinion, this could support the fact that using sunscreen is extremely important, even in artificial light. Sensitive types are especially in danger of the effects of light since they/we have a difficult time finding the right product that does not irritate our skin.

I also wonder how different forms of light such as fluorescent sources affect different sensitive skin types.

There's also an element of environmental pollution due to the sun's rays, but the interesting component is that the inflammation does not take place until the sun goes down. hmmm.

I hope you find these thoughts interesting. I'd appreciate it if you let me know if this was helpful information.