It’s well known fact that being out in the sun too long can cause damage to our body and skin. From a mild burn to skin cancer, there are a lot of reasons you shouldn’t be outside for long periods of time without sunscreen. Texas resident Cade Huckabay from Texas learned it the hard way, however, after completely shaving his head before a 14 hour stint in the sun.
Cade Huckabay’s Dent
A tweet of Cade’s horrific sunburn went viral around six months ago, racking up over 250000 likes and 100000 retweets. The photos showed his head swelling up significantly after being burned, and he was left with a dent in his head.
One time I shaved my head, got severely sunburned, & swelled up just a little bit :-) pic.twitter.com/9FWw3jcdYf
— Cade Huckabay (@CadeHuckabay) December 5, 2017
In interview with Yahoo Lifestyle, Huckabay elaborated on the dent in his head.
“Since it was always covered in hair or a hat, my scalp had basically never seen sunlight before that. Needless to say, I got it kinda bad…I knew the swelling was just from the burn, and I wasn’t having any other symptoms of something more serious being wrong with me. I was perfectly healthy other than my head being a few sizes overgrown.”
Although he apparently shaved his head to see what he looked like without hair, Huckabay was left with a little more than he bargained for. When he pressed his finger into his forehead, it left a dent in his head due to lost elasticity, and said dent stayed for over 30 minutes.
The Dangers of Sun Exposure
While it’s by no means common to have a dented forehead after sun exposure, it’s important to recognize the damage that UV light can do to the body. Exposure to these rays can lead to sunburn, premature skin aging, skin cancer, and other forms of skin damage. The risk for skin damage and cancer is directly related to the number of sunburns someone has experienced during their life.
While redness of the skin is perhaps the most obvious symptom of overexposure, a serious sunburn can be a medical emergency. It can cause a serious infection that requires immediate treatment, with symptoms of increasing redness, swelling, fever, and a foul smell. Even if the symptoms of a burn aren’t quite that bad, someone with a sunburn will likely experience pain and discomfort from 12 to 48 hours after sun exposure. That’s reason enough to put on some sunscreen.
In order to protect yourself against burns and avoid a potential dent in your head, make sure you wear a broad-spectrum sunblock with an SPF of at least 30. Avoid direct exposure between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., and wear protective clothing and sunglasses to reduce your risk of sunburn.
While Cade Huckabay got a dent in his head from severe exposure, it’s not a particularly common occurrence. Still, sun burns are serious enough that you should always make sure to protect yourself.
