The next time you think about skipping sunscreen, Cade Huckabay’s sunburn will convince you to never leave without it.
The 21-year-old Texas resident recently posted a series of photos on Twitter after getting so severely sunburned, he could leave a dent on his head if he poked it.
“One time I shaved my head, got severely sunburned, & swelled up just a little bit,” he wrote on the social media site.
The tweet, which is now viral, garnered hundreds of responses including memes and other users sharing similar experiences.
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On Twitter, Huckabay added the dent in his head would last for half an hour, and he didn’t wear sunscreen when he went out that day.
Others wasted no time to turn Huckabay’s incident into comedy.
“I’m glad we can all laugh at my pain together,” Huckabay told Mashable. “Some people are making me laugh harder than ever before with the comparisons and jokes they’re making. You gotta be able to laugh at yourself, ya know?”
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Others even shared their own faces swelling up from the sun.
Sunburns and swelling
Toronto dermatologist Dr. Julia Carroll says the combination of fresh skin from shaving his head and not using sunscreen was why his head swelled up.
Carroll says the swelling is called edema, where excess fluid becomes trapped in body parts that can hold a lot of it — including areas around the eyes, forehead and head.
This is why a lot of the Twitter users who posted photos of similar experiences had swelling in those areas, she adds.
With edema, when you push down on the swelling, it could leave a dent or pit. “It’s a short-term thing,” says Carroll.
Wearing sunscreen
And while Huckabay lives in a warmer climate and Canadians are dealing with winter temperatures, Carroll says you should be wearing sunscreen every single day of the year.
“Don’t even look outside, even if it’s raining. I like to tell my patients if you see your hand, you should be wearing sunscreen.”
According to the Canadian Dermatology Association (CDA), you should also be wearing sunscreen during any outdoor winter activity.
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“The sun’s rays are strongest around midday, so try to avoid exposure around that time. The sun is harsher the closer you are located to the equator and at higher altitudes where the thinner atmosphere blocks fewer of the sun’s rays,” the association notes.
Carroll says that during the winter, there is also more light reflection from the snow, and the CDA notes snow reflects up to 80 per cent of the sun’s rays.
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