Millions of pale Northerners head for hot Southern beaches this month.
Most of them have one goal in mind: to bake in the sun. But when it comes to sun tanning, one picture might be worth a thousand finger-wagging dermatologists’ warnings.
“Never again,” says Adriana Benge of Madison Heights, Mich., staring at a distressing photograph of her fair face taken with the UV Detect camera. It shows underlying skin damage caused by the sun’s ultraviolet rays and other conditions.
The camera, made by Faraghan Medical Systems of Philadelphia, is being used by Dr. Steven Grekin of the Skin Rejuvenation Institute in Warren, Mich., to show patients their skins’ sunny past and dim future. It’s the first such camera in Michigan.
“Nobody has to believe me when I tell them they have sun damage. They can see for themselves,” says Grekin, who treats damaged skin with chemical peels, retinoid products (such as Renova) or lasers.
The customized Polaroid camera, invented four years ago but rarely used in doctors’ offices, is built on the same principle as a contraption that dermatologists have used since 1903: the Woods light. When you shine a filtered UV light onto the skin, it is selectively absorbed by the melanin, or skin pigment. The light accentuates blotches of excessive melanin or shows where it is absent.
Unlike the Woods light, the camera gives a permanent record. It takes two photos: one using normal light and one using UV-filtered light. Grekin uses it for diagnosis, to track progress of patients under treatment, and to keep track of diseases like miasma (pigmentation of the skin due to hormones, often called the mask of pregnancy) and vitiligo (loss of pigment).
For patients, the shock of seeing the photo is so great that it can prompt them to do what no amount of doctors’ nagging has been able to accomplish–get them out of the sun.
“It’s scary,” says Carol Ford, 37, of West Bloomfield, Mich., looking at a photo of herself with darkened areas and blotchy spots of melanin where the sun has permanently damaged several layers of skin. “I used to go into the tanning booth. I was a sun worshiper,” she says. “No more.”
While humans need a modest amount of sunshine (one recommendation is 10 minutes a day) to get vitamin D and feel good, too much sun can age you before your time, because UV rays damage the chemical structure of the skin and break down the collagen and elastin. Damage done by the sun also can lead to skin cancer. Doctors believe that 80 percent of all the sun damage to your skin is done by age 20, so doctors would like to see the camera used on teenagers, college students and others most likely to go in for heavy-duty sun tanning.
“It’s a good psychological tool,” says Dr. Don Collier, Grekin’s colleague, of the $4,000 camera. “It shows you what’s smoldering underneath your skin and it’s a good predictor of what your future might hold.”
The UV Detect camera is most effective on fair-skinned people but can detect vitiligo in those with dark skins. Men are just as vulnerable to skin damage as women. Very young children show almost no sun damage, so their UV Detect photo looks nearly identical to a normal picture.
“They’re born a blank sheet and we ruin it from there,” says Ken Faraghan, a director of the Faraghan company.
The camera also shows which sunscreens work best (Grekin’s opinion: Look for those with “micronized titanium dioxide” and those that offer protection against both UVA and UVB rays.)
“I don’t think the camera is at the point where it can detect skin cancer, but it is a valuable instructional tool,” says Dr. Roger Ceilley, past president of the American Academy of Dermatology and assistant professor of dermatology at University of Iowa.
Benge, who grew up in Holland and South Africa, has miasma, a hormone-induced browning of the skin common in pregnancy that can be made worse by the sun. Her UV photo reflected the problem, although she also has had several gentle chemical peels, which help remove the top layers of skin.
One person happy with her UV Detect photo? Sibylle Chapiewski, 62, of St. Clair Shores, Mich., who has had several chemical peels and now stays out of the sun. Her photo showed only slight sun damage.
“I grew up in Europe, where the more suntanned you were, the healthier you looked,” she says. Now she realizes it’s the other way around.
