Woman gets sun damage and wrinkles on ONE side of her face after sitting next to window at work for years
Dawn Jafkins sat next to the window for a decade, and said she never knew the sun could age your skin through glass
THE spot by the window is generally considered the best seat in the office.
But one gran has warned of the dangers of sitting by a window every day, after she got sun damage on one side of her face - which gave her wrinkles through the glass.
For a decade, practice manager Dawn Jafkins sat at a desk one-metre from the window in the doctor's surgery she works in.
As the years passed, the 49-year-old became more self-conscious about the wrinkles around the top of her cheeks, which were particularly prominent on the left-hand side.
One side of the gran-of-two's face seemed to be ageing faster than the other.
In October 2016, she decided to seek medical help - and booked an appointment with Dr Aarti Narayan-Denning at Reverse Time Clinic in Winchester.
She was hoping Botox and fillers could improve the wrinkles, but Dr Aarti said this wouldn't work - because of the sun damage and loss of collagen to her face.
Dawn explained she's always careful with her skin, wearing SPF30 when out in the sun, applying anti-wrinkle creams (with little to no effect) and never using sunbeds.
Dr Aarti prescribed two Skintech TCA skin peels - which cost £350 each - to be applied two to four weeks apart.
This medical grade peel is a type of skin resurfacing, using a controlled strength trichloro-acetic acid.
It triggers the production of collagen, speeding up the shedding of the damaged surface layers of skin, revealing brighter and tighter skin which looks and acts younger.
Dr Aarti told her patient the skin would turn darker in the areas which had the most sun damage, but Dawn was shocked when only one side of her face changed colour.
Worried that too much of the peel had been put on one side, Dawn contacted Dr Aarti who explained that it meant that one side had a lot more sun damage than the other - but they were both baffled.
"I’ve seen that sort of asymmetrical half-of -the-face sun damage on taxi drivers before," said Dr Aarti.
"But Dawn wasn’t a taxi driver, she’d always been sensible when out in the sun, and went on holiday once a year.
"What’s more, she had worked indoors for over twenty years."
The pair soon realised the sun damage had been caused by the office seating plan, which left Dawn exposed to beams of lights shining through the blinds.
"I was shocked because I didn’t think you could get sun damage through glass," said Dawn - who never wore SPF at work.
"Most patients believe that it is not possible to damage your skin through glass but it’s important to remember that the sun’s rays have two component - UVA and UVB," Dr Aarti explained.
"UVB causes burning of the skin – the feeling that we get from lying on a beach for too long. This can be blocked by glass and therefore means that we are less likely to burn when inside.
"UVA however causes ageing of the skin and is not blocked by glass."
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After having the peel, Dawn's skin is smoother, stronger, springy and more radiant - but the greatest improvement has been her confidence.
Although Dawn still sits by the window, she now applies SPF every day.
"I still can’t believe that half of my face was damaged by the sun like that," she said. "Thankfully it’s all cleared now, and both sides of my face look young and healthy.
"I’m telling my story to raise awareness of the dangers of sun damage – even if you’re indoors.
"I’m also incredibly grateful to Dr Aarti for not just giving me Botox like I first requested asked, but for actually taking time to explore the reason behind the problem and finding a more appropriate solution."
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