Answered by on Monday, June 1, 2009
at
2:49 PM
filed under
general
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Yes, you can indeed drive yourself to sun damage. "If you look at people who do a lot of driving, you'll see that the sides of their faces and the hands closest to the side windows always have more sun damage," reports Nicholas Lowe, M.D., clinical professor of dermatology at the UCLA School of Medicine. Think you're safe in the passenger seat? According to Dr. Lowe, you're vulnerable to the same amount of sun exposure even if you're not behind the wheel. The culprit: ultraviolet A (UVA) rays, the so-called aging rays, which can penetrate windows. (UVB rays, those which are mostly responsible for burning, are filtered out when they hit the glass.) To be safe on the road, wear a broad-spectrum sunscreen year-round. Optional protective measures include donning a pair of driving gloves to cover your hands and—if you want to splurge the next time you buy a car—opting for UVA coating on the windows.