This Ultraviolet Video Will Convince You To Wear Sunscreen

It's no secret that the sun is dangerous, or that there's no such thing as a good tan. While it might boost melanin production for a few months and increase vitamin D levels (making you a little more beautiful in the process), it's eventually going to make your face look like scraps from a cobbler's workshop.

Though it takes years for your skin to resemble a WWII bomber jacket, the writing is on the wall—if you have the technology to see it, that is. 

click to play video

Using a UV camera, filmmaker Thomas Leveritt recorded people on the street and put up a live-view screen, allowing them to see the culmination of their skin damage, hitherto invisible to the naked eye.

You might not think you have freckles, but unless you're a newborn baby, you probably have ones you just can't see.

It's certainly cool to see the invisible sunspots, but seeing people put on sunscreen with a UV camera is even cooler. Or scarier. 

Of course, there's nothing wrong with looking like you've seen the world and lived 10 lives in a lifetime. It's just, well, SKIN CANCER.


Ethan Wolff-Mann is an editor at Supercompressor. He currently has a few visible freckles. Call the police. Follow him on Twitter @ewolffmann.