S K I N C A N C E R F O U N D A T I O N J O U R N A L
18
RAYS?
RAVAGED BY THE
We all have seen the skin of sun worshippers who have spent
decades lying in immobile bliss beneath the raging sun.
Their faces and chests, similar to expensive luggage, appear
leathery and rough, lined with broken blood vessels, thickened
precancerous keratoses, brown age spots, and deep furrows.
How dermatologists can repair and reverse sun damage
Sun-damaged skin surrounding
skin that has been shielded by
a wristwatch
N
o longer do people compliment them on their "won-
derful color" or "great tan," because over the years the
sun has damaged their skin to the point where it looks
blotchy, uneven, wrinkled, and just plain old. This premature
aging, caused by the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays (UVR), is
known as photodamage or photoaging. It is the fate sufered
by those who have spent much of their lives outdoors without
using sunscreen and other precautions.
1
A good way to visualize the dramatic diference between nor-
mal, chronologic aging and photoaging is to observe the skin
on your buttocks and compare it to the skin on your face. The
area that has not been exposed to the sun will be signifcantly
smoother, more uniform in color, and less wrinkled. Or, if you
wear a wristwatch every day, compare the skin under your
watch, which has been protected from the sun, with the rest of
the chronically exposed skin on your arm.
Deborah S. Sarnoff, MD
Beauty & Anti-Aging