I don’t understand the science here, but an ultraviolet light camera reveals the not-yet-visible freckles that result from sun exposure. It’s interesting from a scientific point of view, and serves as a gentle reminder to use sunscreen if you want to reduce the sort of skin discolorations that will develop as you age. Don’t worry, none of the more serious results of sun exposure are shown here.
Thanks to IzaakMak for discovering this important video.
Isn’t that just so eye-opening and creepy? O_o
Should make a lot of people think twice. Beyond the discoloration, freckles, etc. that will result, I’ve seen the wrinkles. One of my parents’ friends had a swimming pool and tanned incessantly and heavily every summer. (Think Tanning Mom, only without tanning booths.) Leather looks great compared to what happened to her face by the time she reached old age.
I know that we’re learning new things all the time, but just plain common sense should have warned her what was ahead!
I don’t remember now if we were that aware of the long-term danger back then. We knew sunburns were painful, but you could get a very dark tan without ever burning.
Oh I wasn’t so much talking about long-term dangers like cancer so much as the long-term effects of the sun on appearance. That’s something we’ve seen for a very long time…
Okay, I admit it, I’m too scared to watch the video. I love the sun and since pretty much everything else has been ruined for me via laws, regulations and rules – I refuse to know the truth about the sun. So there. 8>p
Aww, it’s not really scary. Not like gross scary. It just shows people’s faces using an ultraviolet light camera. That somehow shows the freckles that haven’t yet become visible. (Maybe I should add that to the post.) I wouldn’t give up fun in the sun. Just use sunscreen. No biggie. But still, it’s important.
You may know that here in Australia we refer to Australia as the sun burnt country; and for good reason.
I moved to this country in 1951 and I love the sushine and the warmth, I hate the cold and being cold. I once lived in the Great Sandy Desert of the far north of Western Australia where the temperature would climb into the 50s°C but I never take risks with the sun.
You probably know that we have the highest rates of death from melanoma here, young people sun lovers in their 20’s dying from this preventable curse and why? Because they will not learn, they wont cover up and think it’s un-Australian to to slap on some sunscreen lotion and they die!
I’m in my 80th year and most of my skin is as smooth as a babies backside,I get called a pasty faced Pom ( Pom – Australian = Limey- American) but I don’t give a damn. I enjoy the sun and treat it with respect.
Knowing Australians as I do, I think if they watch this short video they’d think it was an hilarious hoot and have a really good laugh and go flop down on the beach somewhere and get nicely tanned. True!
Oh and by the bye I thought that it was a fascinating clip. 🙂
Me too. I had no idea ultraviolet light did that.
I’m just the opposite. Plenty of “natural insulation,” so it’s heat that does me in pretty fast these days. Cold I can dress against. But I can only remove so much when it’s hot.
I didn’t realize melanoma was so prevalent in Australia, although I’d assumed plenty of sun, especially in the interior.
Young people here, too, worship the sun, and I don’t know how careful they are. Coloradans are probably more conscious of the danger because we’re at altitude here and are also very outdoor oriented. Still, it’s hard to convince young people to worry about something that won’t affect them for decades.
I think these figures will astound you
http://www.melanoma.org.au/about-melanoma/melanoma-skin-cancer-facts.html
Remember too that the population of Australia is less than a tenth of the United States
Hmm, turns out the rates are even higher in the U.S. as described here: http://www.skincancer.org/skin-cancer-information/skin-cancer-facts
The figures from both Australia and the US do astound me. I knew it was fairly common, but not that common. Perhaps I’ve not been aware because it’s not something I worry about. You can see it, catch it very early, and treat it, with high probability of a cure.
True that minor skin cancers can be treated I’ve had many on my right arm removed; (where my arm hangs out the drivers window when driving) over the years ( the doc uses liquid nitrogen to burn them off), but melanoma is usually a death sentence and quite separate from the small skin cancers.
Admitted some skin cancers can develop into melanoma.
I watch my left arm and the left side of my face for the same reason. So far no problems. But for 15 years in Oklahoma, at the suggestion of my dermatologist, I had dark tinted windows on my car. Here in Colorado, windows that dark are illegal, if any cop feels inclined to hassle you about it. Fortunately it’s not a major problem since I don’t drive nearly as much these days.
Thanks for this, PT. I’m showing it to my kids!
Good idea!
Good one, PT and Izaak.
When I was a kid I was encouraged to take my shirt off in the summer. Tans were considered healthy. I remember a number of sunburns, one especially painful after a visit to a beach. The home remedy was a mixture of baking soda and vinegar.
In the last couple of decades my doctor has used liquid nitrogen to freeze some half-dozen pre-cancerous spots on my forehead. One spot on the lower inside of my ear wouldn’t heal. That required a skin graft taken from skin on my neck – still fees a little bumpy but looks fine. Another place on my chest was simply excised. I’m hoping I don’t run out of skin before I run out of years.
I’m trying not to laugh too hard at that last line …
I was your typical female sunworshipper well into my 20s and 30s. A pretty tan was highly desirable; pasty white skin was not. We knew burns were dangerous and painful and tried to avoid them, but we still spent hours acquiring a nice tan. So far I’ve only developed so-called age spots, but many of them may actually be the result of sun exposure, not age.
Dermatologists have been scaring us locally with those ultraviolet lights for a while (shiver)
Skin cancer runs in the family. I roll out of bed and slather on the sunscreen before doing anything else – as my doc told me to back in the mid 80’s (thank goodness sunscreen has come a long way – for a while the only one I could stand was used by cancer patients and had to be ordered by the drug store) – and always a hat. As a result my face is so much paler than my hands…drives people trying to sell me make-up nuts.
Sadly, without a tan, my pale skin shows veins on my legs – also genetic…I just don’t look (but so annoying)
CO’s altitude makes it easy to sunburn. (They hassle people for dark windows? I think they gave up trying to do that here…totally black…how do they drive at night?)
Oh, the Aussie sail and surf a lot – lots of exposure
My daily moisturizer has sunscreen in it, so I don’t worry too much unless I’m going to be outside for a while. As for my legs, at my age and weight, they aren’t particularly attractive. The last few summers I used a little bit of bottle tan on them, but haven’t bothered this year.
The Subaru dealer told me darker front windows on my Forester would technically be illegal and “might” get me stopped. My son said he’s heard the few people that get stopped are the obvious ones — very dark windows on a light colored car. My car is white. 🙁
Night driving no problem; they don’t tint windshields, only side and back windows. I didn’t get stopped in the first five years I was here, driving a green car with dark windows. And I do see tons of other cars with all dark side windows. “Side sun” up here is intense — bright and hot. Dark windows so much cooler and protect me and the car interior from sun damage. (Of course, I only average about 3,000 miles a year now. Not like it’s a huge problem.)
After living a few years in Key West on boats, 10 years Colorado @ 10,500′, and bein’ borned looking like I stood behind a flatulent cow, I make my quarterly trips to have various cancers clipped , burned, frozen or whacked off.
Three types liberally sprinkled all over. (Well, not ALL over.)
Growing up in Florida, for 10 years I had a perpetual oozing top of my nose and ears.
Now he (doc) suggests sun block??
Wow, you couldn’t avoid the sun if you’d tried, could you? Somebody should have urged you to use sunblock a long time ago, but better to start now than not at all. At least it would prevent any further damage. Meantime, don’t miss any of those quarterly trips to the doctor!