Put The Brakes on Skin Damage

Years of driving takes its toll 

By Bill McLauchlan

Imagine the effect on your skin if you exposed it to the sun every day for four straight years. Not a pretty prospect and, let’s face it, a particularly hazardous practice.

Yet, if you’re over 50 years old and have been driving for five decades or more, that’s an ugly truth you’ll have to live with.
  
The average North American spends more than 101 minutes a day in a car, according to Harvard Health Watch. That’s 37,935 hours or more than four years in a person’s lifetime. Yet millions of drivers don’t realize that UVA rays infiltrate glass in cars and if unprotected contribute to long-term skin damage that can lead to aging, sagging skin or even cancer.

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Taking preventive measures such as installing window tint on your vehicle windows and using sunscreen every day can help minimize against such potential skin damage.

According to a study in Dermatologic Therapy, “The need for protection from the sun is widely advocated, but consumers generally associate such protection with the occasional extreme exposure and tend to ignore the risk … daily protection can reduce lifetime exposure by 50 percent or more.”

Dr. Dee Anna Glaser, vice-chair of the dermatology department at St. Louis University says, “UVA rays penetrate deep into the skin and can silently accelerate the aging process, cause wrinkles and even skin cancer.” Unlike UVB rays, which create immediate effects like blistering and burns, UVA rays create long-term damage that is not immediately noticeable. “That’s why many people don’t realize their skin is getting damaged from sitting near car windows,” says Dr.  Glaser.
   
A  St. Louis University Medical School study revealed that nearly 53 percent of skin cancers in North America occur on the left side of the body. Researchers believe the increase in left-sided skin cancers may be from exposure to UVA radiation while driving. Notably the trend reverses to the right side of the body in countries where drivers sit on the right side of the car.