Professor Caitriona Ryan and Professor Nicola Ralph on Are We There Yet? with Kathryn Thomas
Professor Caitriona Ryan and Professor Nicola Ralph, Consultant Dermatologists at the Institute of Dermatologists, joined Kathryn Thomas on her podcast Are We There Yet? for a conversation that quietly upends a lot of what we assume about our skin. The episode covers a huge amount of ground, from sun protection, skin cancer, ageing and longevity, to the regulation of the beauty industry. Some highlights worth listening out for include..
The sun protection most of us get wrong
There is exactly one month of the year when you can skip sunscreen in Ireland, and only one. The rest of the time the rules are not what most people assume, from how little separates factor 30 and 50 to the kind of light doing damage indoors, through glass, on a grey day. Professor Ralph, whose background is in photobiology, lays out what actually protects your skin and the age it really needs to start.
Knowing what to look for
There is a simple way to check the part of your skin you can never properly see, and most people never do it. Skin cancer is the most common cancer in Ireland, and the signs are quieter than you would expect. The episode covers exactly what is worth watching for, and the small habit that makes the difference between catching something early and catching it too late.
A more natural approach to ageing
You can often tell within a second of someone walking into a room, long before you see a single line. Professor Ryan explains what your eye is actually reading, why the overfilled look gets it so wrong, and what supporting your own collagen really changes. It is a different way of thinking about ageing, and it is not the one most clinics sell.
Longevity, and what actually works
One thing in this conversation is as bad for you as smoking fifteen cigarettes a day, and it has nothing to do with your skin. Longevity is about living better rather than longer, and the things that work are not the ones going viral. Both also explain why the peptides everyone seems to be injecting right now are a risk worth understanding before you go near them.
Children, teenagers and skincare marketing
Seven and eight year olds are following ten step skincare routines, and that is the part that worries them most. The conversation looks at who this is really being sold to, why almost none of it includes the one product that matters, and what it is doing to how children see themselves. It reframes the whole thing as a question of health rather than beauty.
Our thanks to Kathryn Thomas and the Are We There Yet? team for having Professor Caitriona Ryan and Professor Nicola Ralph on the show.
Listen to the full episode here: Are We There Yet? with Kathryn Thomas
