Bryan Johnson has dedicated years to reducing his biological skin age from 64 to between 37 and 42. However, in a recent post, he revealed that his skin aged by 5% in just one week. 'In one week, the Australian sun aged my skin by 5%,' Johnson wrote on social media.
Why Australian UV is More Harmful
Johnson explained the science behind the rapid aging. Australian UV is over 15% stronger than what most Americans experience. Fair skin can burn in less than 15 minutes. He described Australia as a 'perfect storm' for UV exposure due to a thinner ozone layer overhead, which allows more unfiltered UV to reach the ground.
In Queensland, most people live between 17 and 28 degrees from the equator, compared to about 34 degrees for Los Angeles. The closer to the equator, the more direct the solar angle and the more UV reaches the skin.
Ozone Layer Depletion Over Australia
Data from the upper atmosphere shows a general thinning of the ozone layer over most of the globe, including a 5% to 9% reduction over Australia since the 1960s. The Australian government's department of climate change, energy, the environment and water noted that Australians already face harmful UV exposure from their outdoor lifestyle.
Study Shows Earlier Skin Aging in Australian Women
Johnson cited a study of 1,472 Caucasian and Asian women that found visible signs of skin aging appeared 10 to 20 years earlier in Australian women than in women from the US. Australian women also reported significantly more severe facial lines and volume-related features than women from other countries in the same cohort.
High Skin Cancer Rates in Australia
The cancer statistics are stark. Two in three Australians will develop some form of skin cancer before age 70. Melanoma risk is two to three times higher than in the US. Australia's skin cancer rate is consistently among the highest in the world. Non-melanoma skin cancers result in more hospital admissions than any other cancer, with approximately one million episodes of care each year for skin cancer.
Johnson ended his post with a careful note: 'The sun is great. You want the right amount. Not too much and not too little.'
