Time to be dorky

I had to look up the word in the dictionary when a friendly tourist directed the “compliment” to me at the pool. “Socially inept, awkward” was not it, she had no heard me talk. It was dorky for “unfashionable”. I was wearing, as usual, a long cover-up and hat. Beautiful colors, good brand, pretty print. What was the problem?

Around me there were plenty of women dressed in little bikinis lying in the sun, ready to show their suntan when they went back home. But I am the “skin care expert”. If I get burned, it will be in the kitchen, not at the pool or beach.

The sun damage my skin shows is old, mostly from my childhood years, when my family spent a whole month on the sea side and a burnt nose was a source of pride. Not anymore, but still people keep getting those unsightly skin burns, precursors of future melanoma, basal cell carcinoma or, at the very least, extensive sun damage showing as irregular pigmentation and deep wrinkles.

Why? In the very old days (French Revolution days) white skin was a sign that you were rich enough to avoid working in the fields. A bit more recently, in the 1950s, a “healthy tan” was supposed to look good on you. But now we know better, even the people who spend money and harm their very valuable DNA in the sunbeds.

Why? Some evidence (Iacopetta et al. 2018) suggests that UV exposure acts as a self-reinforcing stimulus, increasing sun seeking behavior that sometimes can exhibit addictive quality. It seems that the inflammation and cell damage caused by UV can act as skin to brain signals that will further encourage more exposure to the sun. The action would be through two systems, the endogenous opioid system and the mesolimbic dopamine pathway, known to be involved in addictive behavior.

So instead of being offended when I was called “dorky”, I felt very clever for not letting my skin and brain interactions letting my back getting burn and sore.

And no, you can’t see the photo of Hannah dressed for the sun!

Iacopetta, K ; Collins-Praino, LE; Buisman-Pijlman, FTA; Hutchinson, MR (2018) Can neuroimmune mechanisms explain the link between ultraviolet light (UV) exposure and addictive behavior?  Brain Behavior Immunity 73: 125-132.