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Comment by willmacdonald | Hacker News Reader

Couldn't this be related the side of the car you drive on? In Sweden & America your left arm would be more exposed to sun.

Here is an example:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trucker-accumulates-skin-damage...

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From the article:

    Stranger still, melanoma most commonly 
    affects the hip, thighs and trunk, which 
    are areas of the body protected from the 
    sun.

Could increased sun exposure to one's left arm result in an increase in other parts of your left side besides the arm?

Also, given the colder climate, how many Swedish drivers drive with their bare arms hanging out of the window?

> bare arms hanging out of the window?

The article says damage is caused by UVB (not UVA which is blocked by glass)

Edit: I am wrong! UVB is blocked by glass

UVA is also implicated in melanoma. UVA is not blocked by glass; UVB is.

> Stranger still, melanoma most commonly affects the hip, thighs and trunk, which are areas of the body protected from the sun.

Unlikely. However, that observation is consistent with the idea that a moderate/healthy amount of sunlight damages just enough of your DNA/tissues to trigger repair pathways that ultimately protect against cancer.

You could still still see a greater left-side incidence if arm melanomas were higher on the left arm even though trunk/hip thigh melanomas were evenly distributed.

The blog fails to answer the most basic question: do right-side sleepers with a metal bedframe aligned with a radio tower have a higher incidence of left-side cancers that can explain the general population discrepancy?

They said in the article it’s located on places like the hips as well areas that aren’t getting any sun.

I guess the UK would be an important control then.

Australia. We don't have sun in the UK

But then you'd have to account for the Coriolis effect...

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