T

he stats, gures and research on the current state of air pollution worldwide are sobering. According to the World Health Organization, 92 per cent of people worldwide breathe in sub-standard air; researchers at Harvard and environmental organisation Greenpeace foresee that coal emissions in South-east Asia will triple by 2030; and a study in scientic journal Nature estimates that 6.6 million people would die prematurely of air pollution by 2050.

To say that our cities are emitting dangerous amounts of toxic gases (carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, ozone) and particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter (that’s about 30 times smaller than the width of a human hair) and that we are “choking” is an understatement.

Staying indoors isn’t safer either. The average Singaporean spends 8.8 hours in the office every day and another 90 minutes on the road. According to Nicolas Chesnier, regional managing director of Sisley Asia Pacic, this makes us vulnerable to indoor pollution, whether in offices with lousy air-conditioner lters or poorly ventilated cars and buses circulating emission from surrounding vehicles.

Despite such damaging exposure, many of us don’t pay enough attention to air pollution (note how many drivers here leave their car engines on while they wait) – unless it’s the haze.

Given that pollution isn’t going away any time soon, some beauty houses such as Sisley have started focusing on air pollution as a big-time skin hazard. Why? Because polluted air is loaded with damaging free radicals that cause problems such as sensitivity and dark spots.

Asian women are genetically predisposed to hyperpigmentation and Sisley researchers discovered that pollution exacerbates it – a