From "I’m a doctor. Here’s why I wear sunblock indoors. Plus, four tips for buying an effective sunscreen" (WaPo)(gift link).
I think the expression is "set foot" — not "step foot" — and I'm not going to take this doctor's advice. Frankly, I don't even use sunscreen outdoors. I walk at dawn and in places I know to be shady. Sunscreen is for people who go out in the sun and stay there a while, like I did when I was a child and even second-degree sunburns — the kind with blisters — were a normal part of a day at the beach.
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39 comments:
step foot : set foot :: stand on line : stand in line
45 minutes each way in a car to and from work.
I don’t take advice from people like that.
“Step foot” is fine. If you can switch up the language without sacrificing clarity of meaning, what’s the problem?
The doctor seems unaware that glass can be made with superior UV protection than the sunscreen chemicals he puts on his body. It is possible he bought an old cheap car and works in an old building. Also possible he’s a quack.
Except in long-exposure situations, the good the sun does outweighs the bad. This “doctor” (Really? What kind of doctor sits in an office and stares at a screen all day?) should be telling this to his therapist, not WaPo readers, who already have enough problems dealing with reality.
I see a guy alone fishing from a bridge, wearing a mask, so being overly cautious is a thing. I also know a somewhat elderly couple that, since COVID, has completely withdrawn from social interaction, but maybe this guy has cracked the code to eternal life
She went to the Fauci School of Medicine. Scare the hell out of people based upon lies.
“ Dr. Pasricha is an NIH-funded, double-board certified internal medicine physician and gastroenterologist at BIDMC where she directs the Institute for Gut-Brain Research.”
So what? Her opinion is wrong.
I also strongly suspect she is very keen to not let her skin get darker. See Tom Wolff’s “Back to Blood” about the skin shade hierarchy amongst Blacks.
I love "gift links" that require me to provide personal information to a corporate entity that tells me they will pass on that information to "Business Partners" and that "We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these entities."
Fuck off, Washington Post.
Look at the ingredients list on a typical tube of sunscreen. Tell me, from your gut, that there is zero risk having that chemical concoction spread over your skin for hundreds of hours over the course of the year.
Everybody's free (to wear sunscreen).
Sunscreen indoors is just about as dumb as a mask outdoors. Although I do give people a break who wear a mask during the smoke events we have had lately. IF it is a true N95, securely attached to the face.
--UVA Rays (320–400 nm): About 50% to 75% of UVA radiation passes through ordinary window glass. These rays cause skin aging and long-term cellular damage. Most US sunscreens do not block UVA unless they are labeled as broad spectrum.
--UVB Rays (290–320 nm): Regular glass blocks nearly 100% of UVB rays, which are the primary cause of direct sunburns.
The sunscreen the doctor is wearing is likely to block the UV already being blocked by glass
UVC Rays (<290 nm): Completely blocked by standard glass (and the Earth's atmosphere).
The front windshield blocks close to 100% of UVA and UVB.
"(Really? What kind of doctor sits in an office and stares at a screen all day?)"
A Dr. Jill Biden kind of doctor.
“WaPo readers, who already have enough problems dealing with reality.”
Tim Maguire just made my week!
i fish out in Wyoming a couple of times a year..
while fishing, i'm covered with sunscreen AND long sleeves and hat.
SEVERAL times, when i got to Wyoming, my left arm was sunburnt (not badly), from the sun coming in through the car window.
windows do NOT block as much UV as you'd think..
however, that doesn't mean that it bothers or worries me in any way;
just means it DOES happen
My foot has a "step foot" after it got divorced.
Someone thinks they're turning Japanese they think they're turning Japanese they really think so.
We say step foot outside in the midwest...
Might be a regional thing. Not an uncommon phrase...
Steppers v setters. Active v passive...
Get out more and listen to people?
A doctor spending a lot of time behind a computer at work probably has more to worry about from A.I. than she does UV.
"Really? What kind of doctor sits in an office and stares at a screen all day?"
From her bio page: "Dr. Trisha Pasricha is the Ask a Doctor columnist for The Washington Post and author of You've Been Pooping All Wrong (Penguin Random House). Dr. Pasricha is an NIH-funded, double-board certified internal medicine physician and gastroenterologist at BIDMC where she directs the Institute for Gut-Brain Research. She is also an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School."
Her degrees: Harvard University, BA in visual and environmental studies; Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, MD; Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, MPH
If you've ever lived in a place with a substantial East Indian population, you'll know that they are obsessed with having fair skin as a factor amounting to beauty. The ladies slather on bleaching products and makeups to turn their skin lighter. The Bollywood stars reflect this, at least the female ones.
I don't know if she's East Indian, or a product of a caste system, but she looks like she could be. Sunscreen inside, for an office worker?
Now tell me about her vitamin D deficiency.
It's a safe bet she got at least three Covid jabs, takes statins, and still wears a mask in public (outdoors too).
There are a lot of safe (mineral-based) sunscreens. But as others have said, sunlight has huge benefits. The best advice is just to avoid getting sunburned. I only put sunscreen on if I'm out for an extended time in the middle of the day.
No wonder young people are struggling - the world is going to end because of the climate, no matter what you say or do, you are a racist, don't go outside or you'll get cancer.
Sunscreen is a greasy, stinky, and/or crumbly mess. I avoid it if at all possible.
"Everyone" who works outdoors in the high mountains, the southern US, or the tropics covers up with long-sleeved shirts. This spans across natural skin colors. Many people wear huge wide-brimmed hats too. Hikers and kayakers wear polyester hoodies with thumb loops.
Windows block a lot of UV radiation and also have things called "blinds." One can easily close the blinds to block 99.999999999999% of the radiation and also read computer text with less glare and overall intensity. Computer programmers are known for working in dark cave-like environments to minimize eye fatigue.
None other than OSHA offers computer office lighting guidance. Silly doctor here.
Her degrees: Harvard University, BA in visual and environmental studies; Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, MD; Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, MPH
Now do Fauci.
**Ann Althouse said...From her bio page: "Dr. Trisha Pasricha is the Ask a Doctor columnist for The Washington Post...[a long list of important-sounding credentials]**
So...a doctor in name only. When did she last practice?
I walk the beach here (Chesapeake Bay) most days after lunch. Starting as soon as it reaches 60F or so I go in shorts and t-shirt. My arms, legs and face tan slowly enough so the that by the height of summer (now), I don't get a sunburn on a three hour walk, I get the classic farmers tan. Does it make me looks older? Probably, but I am old. I don't like the smell or feel of sunscreen, but if I was to visit a tropical isle in winter, I'd wear it.
I got burned so badly so many times growing up, in my teens, and in college, that I eventually started avoiding prolonged sun exposure and did start using sunscreen. (All that Scandinavian, Irish, and English genetics--maybe the German, too, though not so much--means that I'm very melanin-challenged.)
However, I did eventually develop a severe Vitamin D deficiency, so I started modifying my choices to strike a balance (and took some powerful supplements for a while; back to normal now, though damage has been done). I wish I'd done that sooner.
If you get eyeglasses that automatically darken in sunlight, you will discover that they don’t darken indoors or while driving, because they only react to UV light. So the doctor is completely ignorant. (There is a new version that is supposed to react to visible light but that type is less commonly available.)
One of the most applicable rule of thumb for identifying bullshit is when someone is about to tell you how to behave prefaces it with "I'm a Doctor".
"I'm a doctor" gives one only marginally more credibility than "I'm not a doctor, but." We have a very good illustration of that in Anthony Fauci.
After energetically washing my face to make it less greasy the last thing I want to do is add greasy sunscreen. Sometimes I do put it on my exposed arms.
I too have vivid memories of long.summer days playing at the beach, culminating in painful sunburns. I would get up the next day and do it again. The fun was worth the pain.
She's not wrong, even if what she might be doing is minimally effective. Sunburn is caused by UVB rays which as Queastor noted are relatively easy to block. More damage is done by UVA rays which are present even after UVB is screened out That's why degradable material left in front of an uncovered window fades and deteriorates. It's practically impossible to get UVB exposure without UVA but just avoiding a sunburn doesn't mean you aren't getting UV damage.
I've never been a sun worshipper so I rarely wore sunblock. It's a real pain to put it on. But now I have to put it on when I go outside for any amount of time because the anti-rejection meds make me more susceptible to skin cancer. I would think that the biggest problem with wearing it all the time, both inside and out, would be that you're supposed to reapply it every couple of hours. That's a lot of effort for so little risk reduction. (Since skin cancer is also very treatable these days, if you get screened regularly.)
I suspect this guy also avoids garlic and crucifixes.
“ I think the expression is "set foot" — not "step foot" — and I'm not going to take this doctor's advice.”
Good. “Step foot” is simply wrong; “step” is not a transitive verb. It’s also redundant, since you can only step with your foot. You don’t step foot outside, you just step outside.
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