觸目驚心的"兩面臉":警惕太陽光線危害!
At first, it looks like human artifice – a Photoshopped demonstration of ageing in action. But the image of truck driver William McElligott is actually a stark reminder of the destructive power of the sun. The left-hand side of the 66-year-old's face is deeply lined, pitted and sagging after 28 years of sun exposure through the side window of his lorry. The right-hand side, shaded by the cab as McElligott delivered milk around Chicago, is the taut, unblemished face of an apparently much younger man.
乍一看，它就像是人工合成的一樣：一張PS過的慢慢變老的圖片。但卡車司機威廉·麥克艾力哥特的這張照片，卻真的給我們敲響了太陽破壞力的警鐘。這位66歲的卡車司機，在芝加哥運輸牛奶。在他的左臉上是一條條深深的皺紋，那是28年來他都要經受透過卡車側窗的太陽光線暴曬的結果。由於右臉沒有遭受太陽的照射，所以整個右臉是整潔乾淨的，從右臉看麥克艾力哥特，他顯得更爲年輕。McElligott didn't notice the developing asymmetry for 15 years and only sought treatment when his grandchildren asked him about the "bumps" on his face. Doctors were shocked, and his image was published in the New England Journal of Medicine as a striking example of unilateral dermatoheliosis, or photoageing, caused by prolonged exposure to UV rays. The image demonstrates the danger to workers who might not regard themselves as at risk from the sun, according to Gill Nuttall, chief executive of Factor 50, a support group for people with skin cancer.
麥克艾力哥特在過去的15年裏都沒有意識到左右臉的不對稱，直到他的孫子問起他臉上的腫塊時他才尋求治療。醫生們都震驚了。關於他的照片發表在了新英格蘭醫學期刊上，當作一個關於單面日射病或是光老化的典型例子。這兩種病都是由於遭受過長的紫外線照射而引起的。據Factor 50組織的的首席執行官吉爾·納托爾稱，圖片向工作者們揭示了危險，這些工作者們也許並不認爲他們正遭受來自太陽紫外線的輻射危險。Factor 50是一個爲皮膚癌患者提供援助的團體。Nuttall has written to Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, urging unions to help raise awareness of the risks for workers, including those such as meter readers, taxi drivers and even sales reps who don't regard their job as being outdoors. "They don't perceive themselves to be in any kind of danger," she says.
吉爾·納托爾已經給英國勞工聯合會的祕書長布蘭登·巴伯（Brendan Barber）寫了信，呼籲工會幫助提高勞工防範紫外線照射的意識，其中主要包括如下人羣：抄表員、出租車司機，甚至是推銷員。推銷員們並不認爲他們是在戶外工 作。“他們沒有意識到自己處在一種危險的環境中。”她說。
She has seen severe sun damage on the hands of reps – exposed to sun through windscreens — who drive for a living because car windscreens do not protect from UVA rays. These rarely trigger obvious sunburn, unlike UVB rays, but cause most photo-ageing, and can also lead to skin cancer. Just as images of smoking-induced wrinkles have been used to appeal to the vanity of the young so charities hope that real images such as that of McElligott could shock people into protecting themselves.
她見過推銷員手上嚴重的曬傷--他們以開車爲生，但太陽光線卻能透過擋風玻璃，這是因爲擋風玻璃不能阻止紫外線A的照射。和紫外線B不同，紫外線A幾乎不會引起明顯的曬傷，但會引起光老化，也有可能導致皮膚癌。就像那些因吸菸產生了皺紋的圖片已經被用來警醒年輕人的虛榮心，慈善組織希望麥克艾力哥特這樣真實的圖片，能夠觸動人們採取措施保護自己。Skin cancer charity Skcin has used a similarly shocking illustration of the ageing effects of the sun in identical twins, one of whom worked outside all her life and one who worked in an office, in presentations. "It always generates a gasp," says Charlotte Fionda of Skcin. The image of McElligott might also have an impact on men who would otherwise not be worried by a few wrinkles, according to Fionda – provided people trust that the image is not fabricated.
皮膚癌機構Skcin在他們的展出中也採用了一張類似令人震驚的圖片。圖片中是一對同卵雙胞胎，其中一人的工作都是在戶外，而另一人是在辦公室內。“圖片 總讓人感到震驚。”皮膚癌機構Skcin的夏洛特·菲昂達說道。只要人們相信這張圖片不是虛構的，那麥克艾力哥特的照片同樣可以給忽略皺紋出現的男人們一 些觸動。"The ageing bit is the one thing that makes people more aware and likely to take action - because they think skin cancer will never happen to them," she says.
“只有出現一點點老化才能使人們提高意識，也更有可能會採取行動，因爲他們認爲皮膚癌從來不會發生在他們身上。” 她說。"The imagination is a very powerful thing," adds Nuttall. "It doesn't take much to imagine one's own skin in 20 years' time — William's story is one we are going to see again and again."
納托爾補充說到，“想象力具有很強大的力量，一個人20年後的皮膚狀況，這很容易就能想象出來。威廉的故事就是我們反覆看到的其中一個。”
