Truck driver skin aging after 28 years of sun exposure

[John105]

My wife a physical therapist mentioned seeing this in the past with her trucker patients beyond the mess their bodies were in from sitting so much. Tough job!

It's been called a sedentary lifestyle. but it's on my bucket list to do. there is a clear shortage and pay is great.

 

[The Artillerist]

It was a lot earlier than that. One of my occupational medicine textbooks says the first scientific study that determined that UV light causes skin cancer was in 1928. It had been hypothesized that sunlight caused skin cancer as early as 1894.

Apologies for the typo and not being precise enough. This the Google result I was referring to. Firstly it’s 1977 not 1997. Secondly, I took “landmark“ as in official push off date for a widely accepted, definitive scientific conclusion For sure people suspected that Sun was cancerous before 1997

 

[John105]

How did people survive and thrive for thousands of years before all of this?

To think as a kid we went to the beach and wanted our skin as dark as possible. I know it's not good for the skin. I even started again (to get a tan) at age 28-35 (probably did some damage). Because it wasn't cool to be so light back then, looked like we didn't lead a fulfilling, enriched, active, lifestyle. Today I'd say many people don't have a tan in the office, likely the majority. Tanning is no longer equated with being successful imho.

 

[The Artillerist]

How did people survive and thrive for thousands of years before all of this?
Now blocking creams are essential? How do you know there aren’t bad chemicals in the cream? Because the package says so?
What about vitamin D?

People did survive, with average life expectancy of 30 something years old. Somehow they’ve survived without dental work done without anesthesia too

 

[KrisZ]

People did survive, with average life expectancy of 30 something years old. Somehow they’ve survived without dental work done without anesthesia too

Yeah, bring up these numbers without any reference.
Ever heard of infant mortality rate? It was bad back then and when you have a bunch of kids die before age 1, that will bring down the stats a lot.

Once people made it out to the adulthood, they lived very long lives and more importantly, they were fully functional human beings, not drugged up zombies sitting in some old folks home, rotting away.

 

[chris719]

Yeah, bring up these numbers without any reference.
Ever heard of infant mortality rate? It was bad back then and when you have a bunch of kids die before age 1, that will bring down the stats a lot.

Once people made it out to the adulthood, they lived very long lives and more importantly, they were fully functional human beings, not drugged up zombies sitting in some old folks home, rotting away.

Yeah bro, who needs modern medicine and chemistry. A little leprosy, TB, or plague never hurt anyone. The important thing is they weren't drugged up zombies.

 

[ecotourist]

People did survive, with average life expectancy of 30 something years old. Somehow they’ve survived without dental work done without anesthesia too

You're right about short life expectancies. Germany introduced retirement at age 65 as recently as 1916, and they were able to do that because hardly anyone lived that long.

Without at least basic medical care most people would be lucky to make it to age 50. If you look at historic genealogical records you'll find all sorts of deaths of infants and children. And yes an occasional person would make it to age 100 - simply because nothing ever went wrong. [I had a family practice in my younger days where I had many patients over age 90. The past medical history for these people was exceedingly sparse. Nothing much had ever gone wrong.]

 

[Pew]

Yeah bro, who needs modern medicine and chemistry. A little leprosy, TB, or plague never hurt anyone. The important thing is they weren't drugged up zombies.

It's also safe to drink and smoke when pregnant with lead pipes and asbestos insulation.

Agent Orange? Nope, never heard of him.

 

[KrisZ]

Yeah bro, who needs modern medicine and chemistry. A little leprosy, TB, or plague never hurt anyone. The important thing is they weren't drugged up zombies.

Yup, say something negative about modern medicine and you’re automatically labeled anti-medicine or science.

I guess I must assume the same for the “trust the science” side. You guys must take every pill, treatment, ointment and drug that is pushed your way, right?

 

[The Artillerist]

Yeah, bring up these numbers without any reference.
Ever heard of infant mortality rate? It was bad back then and when you have a bunch of kids die before age 1, that will bring down the stats a lot.

Once people made it out to the adulthood, they lived very long lives and more importantly, they were fully functional human beings, not drugged up zombies sitting in some old folks home, rotting away.

You are correct. Without child mortality, on average, people used to live 50-55 years. That’s for males and females, therefore males were on a lower end of that.

Still, without modern medicine and so on, those 50-55 years of life had a lot more arduousness. If one takes care of himself today, one can still be a like a fresh cucumber at this age and attractive to younger women

 

[ecotourist]

It's interesting to consider how any of us would have done without any medical care.

My wife would have died as a young teenager because of appendicitis. A few of her relatives died of appendicitis, one young as his early 30s.

I would have been fine until my mid 50s when I would have died due to a bowel problem, and if that hadn't happened I wouldn't have made it much past age 70 because of a heart problem (a heart defect, not a coronary artery problem). And that's assuming my teeth hadn't done me in when I was younger. Early human skulls occasionally show evidence of chronic dental abscesses which might have caused death (I had dental abscesses as a kid due to poor teeth).

And my wife and I are both healthy adults.

 

[Pablo]

Sugar kills. Can't blame modern medicine too much, but they really should have recognized it and spoke up much much sooner.

Doctors are not helping that much, but it is a huge battle. Doctors are weak on nutrition. Recommending too much grain and seed oils.

Lastly a large percent of docs are pill pushers by numbers. Not enough root cause, individually with every patient.

 

[The Artillerist]

It's interesting to consider how any of us would have done without any medical care.

My wife would have died as a young teenager because of appendicitis. A few of her relatives died of appendicitis, one young as his early 30s.

I would have been fine until my mid 50s when I would have died due to a bowel problem, and if that hadn't happened I wouldn't have made it much past age 70 because of a heart problem (a heart defect, not a coronary artery problem). And that's assuming my teeth hadn't done me in when I was younger. Early human skulls occasionally show evidence of chronic dental abscesses which might have caused death (I had dental abscesses as a kid due to poor teeth).

And my wife and I are both healthy adults.

In a sense, we are going through a negative selection

 

[The Artillerist]

Sugar kills. Can't blame modern medicine too much, but they really should have recognized it and spoke up much much sooner.

Doctors are not helping that much, but it is a huge battle. Doctors are weak on nutrition. Recommending too much grain and seed oils.

Lastly a large percent of docs are pill pushers by numbers. Not enough root cause, individually with every patient.

I agree with your statements. It takes a complex of things to be healthy (excuse for being so insightful ): minimize junk foods, exercising, putting sunscreen on even on a cloudy day, and so on:

 

[The Artillerist]

Yup, say something negative about modern medicine and you’re automatically labeled anti-medicine or science.

I guess I must assume the same for the “trust the science” side. You guys must take every pill, treatment, ointment and drug that is pushed your way, right?

If one takes care of himself and is prudent about life’s choices, chances are one won’t intersect too much if at all with “medicine”. The pills are usually prescribed to people with issues, not to healthy ones. These don’t go to the doctor. Also a doctor can’t say “your problem is that you are a “torpid, sedentary, smoking and drinking fat @@ck”. So, instead, he/she says “here is a pill for high blood pressure, here is a pill for stomach indigestion” and so on.

 

[John105]

How did people survive and thrive for thousands of years before all of this?
Now blocking creams are essential? How do you know there aren’t bad chemicals in the cream? Because the package says so?
What about vitamin D?

I learned a new word from my cousin 11 years ago--exfoliate. Even his brother, my other cousin, said if you don't do it, won't your face do it on its own?

This was my face's friend when I was a teen:

 

[TheLawnRanger]

How long has this guy been on the job?

 

[Pew]

View attachment 186089
How long has this guy been on the job?

Long enough to become the enemy

 

[ecotourist]

In a sense, we are going through a negative selection

As city dwellers we get a very skewed view of people's health and survival. Everyone we see around us is relatively well (or they wouldn't be at work, out shopping, eating out, etc). Except for a small number of family members we never see the people who are home bound or no longer alive.

When you live in a small town and know a lot of people of all ages you know that Mrs so and so died last week, Mary is poorly again, Jim is stuck at home since his stroke, the Joneses have a disabled child, and so on.

When you live in the city and mostly interact with people at your own work place, or who are out in public, you don't see the ones who aren't there. And if, like most people, you don't keep up with your classmates you won't know who has had a heart attack, who is very ill with cancer, or who has died. You don't even know about your own cohort.

 

[4WD]

I have repetitively battled skin cancer. Every year I get 10-20 spots "froze off" but the past three consecutive years I have had actual surgeries. 11 stitches left side nose crease, 12 stitches right temple area, but the worst was 57 stitches in right shoulder. They do the Mohs surgery in the Houston Medical Center:

Mohs Surgery

Mohs surgery is treatment for melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma and other forms of skin cancer. The surgeon removes layers of skin in an affected area, one at a time, and examines each layer under a microscope for signs of cancer cells. The procedure repeats until the...

www.hopkinsmedicine.org

They cut until they find clean margins. In my shoulder they had to dig 3X, and took out a chunk the size of a small walnut or pecan. It was difficult to pull the skin back together so they made a T incision and stitched it up tight. They did beautiful, beautiful work even though I was not worried about the appearance of it.

BTW I am not a truck driver or anything. but I did run around as a kid without a shirt on every day in the Texas summer. I never knew what I was doing to my skin in the late 60's early 70's. I shrugged off all the sunburns every day.

Have been doing N2 torture and Mohs for a long time …
Several treatments far more severe than Mohs …
Never ends …