Have read stuff about this sort of thing happening to truckers before, so hardly a big surprise that cab drivers vulnerable in this regard.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5445161/s ... iver-face/
Taxi driver told his skin cancer on just one side of his face was caused by UV damage from his cab window
https://inews.co.uk/news/health/taxi-dr ... s-uva-uvb/
Kevin Wright, 57, said he had no idea that sun can penetrate through windows and he didn't wear sunscreen while driving
- Kevin Wright developed pre-cancerous skin cancer cells on his nose seven years ago
- Last year the disease came back – all on the right side of his face
- Dermatologists have linked a rise of skin cancer cases on the side facing the driver window
With sun exposure, you probably think of it when you’re sunning yourself on the beach or walking outdoors in the summer.
But many of us are at risk when we don’t even realise it — in our cars.
Kevin Wright had a scare seven years ago and was told he had pre-cancerous skin cancer cells on his nose – resulting in a lump being removed. He got the all clear and now took care to slap on the sun cream whenever he went out on a warm day.
The taxi driver, 57, wasn’t aware of the dangers his job could cause – until last year, when he was told it had come back and this time only down the right side of his face.
“My consultant told me it was caused by the UV light penetrating the window. I’ve been a taxi driver for 23 years so I’ve been exposed a lot and it’s caused the damage,” he told I.
“I used sunscreen from March to October whenever I was out in the sun but I didn’t think about the sun coming though the glass of the window.”
Bleeding on the face
UV radiation from the sun is associated with about 90 percent of all skin cancers, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation.
For years, dermatologists in the US have noted an increased in the number of cases that occur on the left side – and research increasingly points to car windows.
Glass filters out only one kind of radiation – UVB rays. But UVA rays, which penetrate deeper, can still get through.
Windscreens are specially treated to block UVA, but a car’s side and rear windows allow UVA to penetrate.
Mr Wright, from Southampton, was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), the second most common form of skin cancer. Untreated, it can grow large or spread to other parts of your body.
Both times he’s been affected he had a five-week treatment with Efudex, a topical anti-cancer chemotherapy drug that is applied to the affected skin lesions.
Last year, he also found out a the same time he had sarcoma – a rare and unrelated cancer of connective tissues – in his elbow and he underwent radiotherapy at the same time.
The Efudex led to his face bleeding as it burnt away the pre cancerous cells. He also suffered skin damage from the radiation on his elbow.
He was left with red, peeling skin and bleeding around the face after using a chemotherapy cream (Photo: Kevin Wright/iNews)
“My face looked awful. It had a really bad impact on me and I researched it online and discovered that other people were suffering for months and months with the affect-effects of the Efudex.”
Mr Wright says he managed to heal his skin – and his radiation burns – within a couple of months using MooGoo Natural Skin Balm which his grandson had bought to treat his eczema.
“I was amazed to find something that really worked, my skin is completely clear now. I will certainly put on factor 50 now when I’m driving.”