Something that most people don’t think about is protecting their skin while driving. The harsh reality is that truckers or anyone who spends a lot of time on the road is more likely to get skin cancer on their left side.
“Nearly 53 percent of skin cancers in the US occur on the left, or drivers’, side of the body, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology”. In one particular kind of skin cancer, the distribution pattern was even more lopsided: 74 percent of all melanomas in situ (early, non-invasive melanomas that have not spread from their original tumor sites) were on the left. Invasive melanomas are the deadliest skin cancers, killing an estimated 8,650 people in the US every year.
Approximately one in five American’s will be diagnosed with skin cancer at some point during their lifetime, with the majority of these instances caused by sun exposure. To prevent skin cancers caused by sun exposure, individuals can apply UV blocking products such as sunscreens and sun sleeves. Sunscreen has been proven to be an effective method of preventing squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma, however, little evidence exists for the prevention of basal cell carcinoma. Sun sleeves are essentially UV blocking sleeves that individuals, such as truckers, can pull on that provide 50+ ultraviolet protection factor (UPF). A regular white tee shirt will only provide 10-15 UPF.
Please protect yourself and the skin that you’re in. Sunscreen is less than $10 a bottle, only needs to be applied once every couple of hours, and can protect you from skin cancer, wrinkles, age spots, uneven skin tone, and so many other things.
A 69-year-old man who drove a delivery truck for 28 years shows damaged skin on the left side of his face. NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE
Global Transport, Inc.