PIC: The Most Compelling Argument for Suncreen You’ll Ever See

If you weren’t previously convinced about the merits of sunscreen, you will be now.

Those of us blessed with typical native Irish skin will already be well aware that the sun doesn’t wait too long before beginning to fry our pasty bodies. And while we’re as guilty as the next person for giggling at the epidemic of farmer tans and lobster-like skin shades that spring up at the first sight of a certain yellow ball in the sky, this picture is a sobering reminder that the sun is something to take very seriously indeed.

The image, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, shows a 69-year-old man who presented with “a 25-year history of gradual, asymptomatic thickening and wrinkling of the skin on the left side of his face”.

According to the NE Journal, 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, meaning one side of the man’s face had been exposed to the sun through his window all those years, while the other side had not. The difference is all too clear… pass the Factor 50 please?

Hat tip to @Evas_Tweets for sending us this one on Twitter, thanks Eva!