Lefty

In the spirit of another blogger’s confession, I’ll admit that I haven’t always been so diligent about applying sunscreen every day.  On weekends, I’m the poster boy for sunscreen application as I apply it before walking out the door, especially when I’m working in the yard or just spending time outdoors.  But on the week days, I have convinced myself that my exposure to the sun is very limited and that sunscreen might not be needed.

I have a 25 minute commute which starts at 7:30 each morning.  I drive north, which means the morning sun is mostly blocked as it shines dimly through the passenger-side window.  I work in a cubicle farm with absolutely no windows in the office or on the manufacturing floor.  Most of my work days last well past 5:00, so if the sun is still shining at all when I leave, it sets in the western sky through my passenger window again as I commute home.  I really get very little sun if at all.

Or so I thought.

One of the first things I do every work day morning is jump in the shower.  While this wakes me up a little, the sight of me in the full length mirror as I step out of the shower stall scares me fully awake.  After the shock, I take advantage of the mirror and take a quick look at my skin, looking for anything different.  Yes, I check my skin daily…perhaps a tad more than the recommended monthly check, but I figure if I’m exposed in the morning, why not?  I have a few larger moles that my dermatologist and general practitioner have deemed healthy, but I watch closely anyhow.  In fact, my skin check is usually quite close up using a hand mirror.  But what I noticed the other day was during the initial step out of the shower…a “wider picture” if you will.

I noticed that I have basically no tan lines, except along my left tricep.  My left arm is at least a subtle shade darker than my right.  When I wear a polo shirt (my typical work attire), the difference is not noticeable, but when I’m in shower mode, the darker arm is clear as day.

There are a couple reasons for this.  First of all, while a window will block most UVB rays (the ones that cause burning), a majority of the UVA rays (the ones responsible for skin aging and used in most tanning beds) penetrate and shine right on your skin.  Despite being on the side opposite of the sun as I drive, my left side is still more exposed to the sun than my right.  Remember this guy?

He’s the trucker that made the news a couple years ago because of the sun damage to the left side of his face.  Dermatoheliosis, or photoaging, is due to chronic exposure to UVA and UVB rays. The result is a gradual thickening and wrinkling of the skin.  Twenty-eight years of driving his truck led to this excessive exposure.

Of course, my commute offers me far less exposure than did this trucker, so my condition is nowhere near as drastic.  But there is one other factor to my darkened left arm.  The air conditioner has been busted in my car for well over a year.  Yes, I drive mostly with the window down and therefore rest my arm upon the door.  It’s still on the opposite side of the car from the rising or setting sun as I drive and it’s well outside of the peak sun hours of 10AM to 2PM, but it still rests unprotected as I drive.  Despite the apparent safer conditions, my left arm has a slight bit of sun damage.

In a slight bit of irony, just as I noticed my arm, the following ad from Banana Boat came to my attention.

Yep, that’s me.  Except now, I've learned my lesson.  Every morning as I get out of the shower (eeek!), I check my skin and then apply sunscreen to my arms and neck.  I also now keep a small bottle of sunscreen in my briefcase and apply it to my arms before heading home.

Please realize that sun exposure is constant from morning ‘til night.  While the early morning sunlight may seem safer, there are still UVA and UVB rays hitting your skin.  When you sit in your car (hopefully with air conditioning), the sun that shines through your wind shield still carries along UVA rays.  The same holds true of windows in your home or office…make sure to draw the shades or wear sunscreen!  Please be diligent and wear your sunscreen even when you’re convinced it’s not necessary.

The Gorgeous Tan?

The other day, I was at the grocery store when the male teenaged check-out clerk looked past my shoulder and muttered, “Wow!”  I turned to follow his drooling gaze and saw an attractive young woman walking into the store.  She was wearing a light blue spaghetti-strap top, white summer shorts, and flip-flops; had short dark hair; and sported a gorgeous tan (with tell-tale tan lines near her neck).

Oops…I said a bad word there…didn’t I?  Put down the heavy objects and let me continue (this includes you Chelsea).

I admit that I always had a “thing” about tanned girls.  I also had an attraction to freckled girls as well.  I grew up in a “baby-oil as sun-block” environment, so I pretty much everyone of the opposite sex was either tanned or freckled in the summer.  Basically, I was programmed to appreciate sun-kissed skin.  And this was my initial impression of this lady walking into the grocery store.

But then the black wristband twisted my arm a bit and I reassessed my thoughts.  Did I really think she had a gorgeous tan, or was she a gorgeous girl with a tan?  As I think back now, I was as attracted to certain girls in high school and college in the sweater-bundled winter months in West Virginia as I was during the summer months.  It wasn’t the tan after all.

My point is that one doesn’t need a tan to look attractive.  Take a look at these two famous celebrities:

© http://www.mahgoud.blogspot.com/ and ©www.imbd.com

Can you imagine what Nicole Kidman or Anne Hathaway would look like with a tan?  Neither can I.  Their natural tone is so incredibly beautiful that anything other than “natural” would be a negative distraction.

But it’s not just about being pale.  Can you imagine these beautiful women with unnaturally lighter skin?

©www.billboard.com and ©www.unseensports.blogpot.com

No matter the shade, dark or light, it's the natrual look that's best.

I’m not the only one to think this.  I ran across a website asking which of Angelina Jolie’s “look” below was preferred:



© http://www.damnimcute.com/

A whopping 70.74% of the voters chose the “pale,” more natural look.

Again, it’s all about NATURAL tones.  One should embrace one’s natural skin tone.  Staying out of the sun, AND TANNING BEDS, helps keep your skin naturally beautiful.  It also reduces skin aging and inhibits the formation of wrinkles.  Keeping one’s skin naturally beautiful might even make this crew a little more attractive:



© http://www.fanpop.com/



Well…maybe.

Remember, getting a tan just makes you more tan…it’s doesn’t make you more beautiful.

What's The UV Index Where YOU Live?

You may have noticed that I attached a UV Index gadget to the top left of this blog.  (Thanks to Melissa of “Melanoma Sucks” for sharing this).  If you enter your zip code, it’ll take you to the EPA website where it will present your UV index for the day.  Gadgets are cool.

But what exactly is the UV Index?  I consulted the Google-Gurus and found this excerpt from the NOAA and National Weather Service:

The UV Index is a next day forecast of the amount of skin damaging UV radiation expected to reach the earth's surface at the time when the sun is highest in the sky (solar noon). The amount of UV radiation reaching the surface is primarily related to the elevation of the sun in the sky, the amount of ozone in the stratosphere, and the amount of clouds present. The UV Index can range from 0 (when it is night time) to 15 or 16 (in the tropics at high elevations under clear skies). UV radiation is greatest when the sun is highest in the sky and rapidly decreases as the sun approaches the horizon.  The higher the UV Index, the greater the dose rate of skin damaging (and eye damaging) UV radiation. Consequently, the higher the UV Index, the smaller the time it takes before skin damage occurs.

Below is a chart showing the minutes to skin damage chart, depending on the UV Index and how easily you sun burn:

What this basically says is that if you “usually” burn and the UV Index is at “7”, you’ll start seeing sun damage at around 28 minutes.  If you “rarely” burn, then you’d start seeing sun damage at 70 minutes.

Anything that indicates that one should wear sunscreen is a good thing.  The UV Index for Raleigh today was 11+ (that’s as high as they post), so it was definitely a day to wear sunscreen.

What I don’t like about the chart above is the suggestion that it’s okay to wander around in the sun unprotected for the minimum time listed.  I think this gives a false sense of security.  It’s best to simply tell everyone to wear sunscreen despite the UV Index.  Anyone who ventured outside in Raleigh today at noon who might “sometimes” burn probably would not have wanted to be unprotected in the sun for the 30 minutes implied as safe.  It was hot, sunny and not a safe place to be without sun protection.

Below is another chart I found which seems a little better:

This one doesn’t distinguish between skin sensitivity, but it pretty much just says if the UV Index is high, seek protection.  What I don’t like is the recommendation for UV1 or UV12, “No protection required!”  I guess living in the south, I can’t imagine too many days where no protection is required…and if such a day does exist, I’d probably want to keep my shirt on anyhow.

One thing I read on the EPA site is that once the UV Index goes above 6, a UV Alert is issued.  Okay, when I imagine an "alert," I think of an announcement that's important and wide spread.  As I said, the UV Index today was 11+, and yet I saw no evidence of an alert.  I don’t get the daily paper, so it might have been in there.  But I do watch the local news and check out the websites.  Neither had one bit of information about the UV Index short of a link buried deep within other links such as local lake levels and historical hurricane maps.  I emailed one local TV station to ask why they don’t post the UV index…once I hear something, I’ll post their response.  I suspect that they might say that the UV Index is posted for only the noon hour each day (true) and that it’s not a true reflection of the entire day’s sun exposure, therefore they don't report it.  Or they might simply state that, at least in this area, there’s an alert every day in the summer months, so why constantly post it when there’s nothing “new” to report?  I certainly hope the latter is not the case.

The UV Index is not a perfect tool, but again, anything that gets a person to consider the consequences of going into the sun unprotected is a good thing.  So feel free to type in your zip code and determine how strong the “burn” is in your town.  Either way, wear the sunscreen!