This Unbelievable Photo Will Make You Want Sunscreen This Summer

[The Seeker]

For years, the public has been warned of the damaging effects of the sun’s UV rays. As children, we may have run around sunscreen-less (the horror!), but now, one photo demonstrates what countless other scientific studies have failed to convey.


In the picture an unnamed truck driver is directly facing the camera, and one side of his face looks decades older than the other.


Care to guess which side? Yes, the side exposed to the truck’s window and therefore, the sun.


Check out the picture from the New England Journal of Medicine below, via Gizmodo:

The 69-year-old spent more than 25 years as a truck driver, according to the New England Journal of Medicine, and the Northwestern University doctor who studied him concluded: “The biggest take-home message from all of this is that you can get UV radiation through window glass even if you are just running an errand.â€


The Journal continues to explain the science behind the picture:

A 69-year-old man presented with a 25-year history of gradual, asymptomatic thickening and wrinkling of the skin on the left side of his face. The physical examination showed hyperkeratosis with accentuated ridging, multiple open comedones, and areas of nodular elastosis. Histopathological analysis showed an accumulation of elastolytic material in the dermis and the formation of milia within the vellus hair follicles. Findings were consistent with the Favre–Racouchot syndrome of photodamaged skin, known as dermatoheliosis. The patient reported that he had driven a delivery truck for 28 years. Ultraviolet A (UVA) rays transmit through window glass, penetrating the epidermis and upper layers of dermis. Chronic UVA exposure can result in thickening of the epidermis and stratum corneum, as well as destruction of elastic fibers. This photoaging effect of UVA is contrasted with photocarcinogenesis. Although exposure to ultraviolet B (UVB) rays is linked to a higher rate of photocarcinogenesis, UVA has also been shown to induce substantial DNA mutations and direct toxicity, leading to the formation of skin cancer. The use of sun protection and topical retinoids and periodic monitoring for skin cancer were recommended for the patient.


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One thing is for certain– the man is a great reminder as to why investing in a bottle of sunscreen is probably a good idea, as the summer starts heating up.

 

[Gromit]

Sunburn through a glass window is worse than direct sunburn. Look at your hands - the sun damage from driving, hands on the wheel and sun through the windshield.

 

[The Seeker]

Look at your hands - the sun damage from driving, hands on the wheel and sun through the windshield.

I wouldn't know where the sun damage begins and where the damage from wrenching on old British sports cars and motorcycles begins!

 

[DaveM]

This is amazing and an eye opener

 

[Rbeans]

Wow, what an eye opener. I try so hard to be good about putting sunscreen on all the time in the summer but inevitably I always forget once and end up with a terrible burn. I'm so pasty white I'm practically an albino, pretty sure I'm burning from the overhead lights here in the lab

 

[shanered6]

thats not a nice look ! luckly i live in scotland and only get 3 days of sun a year ! so no worries

 

[CarlS]

I grew up in Florida way before sunscreen. I was out doors most of the day everyday when school was out. Today I am careful to use sunscreen, especially on my ears, nose, neck and forehead. And I usually wear a hat. Even swimming, I rarely go shirtless.

 

[devo]

I'm so pasty white I'm practically an albino,

I hope you wear something bright when you play in the snow.

 

[DaveM]

I live in Africa and we are expected to be tanned so I seldom wear sunscreen

 

[otherwise]

In Australia if you don't have skin cancer you're a "big girl", real men have skin cancer.

 

[DaveB]

It's scary isn't it (the pic)?

As a Pom who has lived in Africa for 30 years, I've only been badly sunburnt twice in that time. I went on a fly-fishing trip recently and just slapped on factor 50 sunblock each morning- it's just part of the routine. I always wear a hat out in the sun.

 

[Gromit]

The worst sunburn I ever had was when I was sailing - hot, hot summer day, breeze off the ocean keeping us cool, loads of sunblock and a cap and I got the worst wind/sun burn of my life. My face literally came off in one piece like a papier mache mask about a week after the day of sailing - off work for 8 weeks (but worked from home) and was not allowed outdoors at all. When I could go eventually go out, I had to wear a wide-brim hat with a veil thingy on it - was just great to be 20 something and run around wearing that! But it healed perfectly thanks to great doctors and medicines but I learnt my lesson.
I NEVER go out, winter or summer, without sunblock - I keep some in my car and on bike trips, keep some in my pocket too. But riding bikes means wearing gloves and that's better than sunblock