UV Lights and it’s implications for Human Beings

UV light has certain implications for human beings, which are worth knowing for all.

It forms a spectrum of electromagnetic waves whose wavelength is just less than the visible violet light. Wavelength of visible light is 400 to 700 nm; for violet it is around 400 and for red it is 700 nm.

ultraviolet light is classified into three types according to the wavelength.

– ultraviolet A315 -400 nm

– UVB 280-315 nm

– UVC 100-280 nm.

Though majority of UV light is blocked by ozone layer, some quantity of it enters the earth’s atmosphere.It has both useful and harmful side effects. Many of you must be aware that prolong UV exposure can cause early signs of aging like fine lines and wrinkles, skin pigmentations and cancers. Also it has harmful effects on eyes. It can also cause commonly seen tanning and sunburn. The gases which are used in refrigerators, chlorofluorocarbons, cause this ozone layer damage therefore more amount of UV rays enters the atmosphere. now a days different type of gases are used so that the damage to a protective ozone layer is minimized.

 UV light has many useful purposes also.

 It is used in dermatology for medical management of skin conditions like psoriasis, vitiligo and eczema.

natural sunlight can be used for the treatment of psoriasis or vitiligo.

in this after consuming oral tablets patient is exposed to the sun after 2 hours so that the oral tablet after consuming reaches the skin surface.

on exposure to sunlight there is photochemical reaction which helps in treating these skin conditions.

for more precise and better results UV chamber with specific wavelength of tube lights are fitted inside them, so that a patient can exposed his or her body parts to these lights for a certain duration of time.

It is used for autoclaving/sterilization of medical equipments.

It also has antimicrobial properties that’s why it is commonly used in water filters at home.

UV light is also used to diagnose few skin conditions like pityriasis versicolor and melasma.

 UV light plays an important role in vit D synthesis which is very useful for bones. there is no dietary source of vit D.