Systemic Photoprotection is that which goes beyond the skin and acts at a general level inside our body. This is a group of immunophotoprotectors that are administered orally. The main advantage is that since they are systemic, their protection is global and they act on the entire skin surface.
Systemic or oral photoprotectors are immunophotoprotective substances administered orally (capsules, tablets, solution), mostly antioxidants, which are responsible for eliminating free radicals that are generated in our skin due to many factors, including solar radiation.
One of the fundamental aspects that must be highlighted is that since they are systemic, their protection is global, that is, they act on all of our skin. Among these we find:
Beta-carotenes: they are usually administered for sun intolerance or as a preventative in people with white skin.
Commercially, they can lead to confusion since many people think that they are used to get tan or acquire color before sun exposure.
In reality, they prepare the body for sun exposure and there will be an increase in pigments to reduce the rapid appearance of erythema, although it must be taken into account that these are not preventative of skin cancer.
- Vitamins C and E
- Green tea polyphenols
- Polypodium leucotomos
The most used is ascorbic acid or vitamin C, which also stimulates collagen synthesis, making the repair of damaged tissue even faster.
Vitamin E or alpha-tocopherol also protects against UVB and is usually combined with vitamin C for greater effectiveness. As other substances, we have carotenoids (lutein is an example), flavonoids (used from silymarin and red clover), Omega-3 (fatty acids such as linoleic and linolenic acids provide anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects as well as photoprotective) and Green tea polyphenols (reduce erythema and inflammation when there is sunburn).