As a sportscaster for the Toronto Blue Jays, Jamie Campbell is a familiar face on Canadian television during baseball season, but he was missing from World Series coverage this fall — an absence he explained with the help of a striking photo.
The image, which Campbell posted on X, shows the left side of his face red and raw from the top of his forehead to the bottom of his cheek, the result of treatment for pre-skin cancer.
“It ended up making my face look like I’d been barbecued,” Campbell, 56, tells TODAY.com. “It was so profound that my network and I just decided it would be best if someone substitute in for me.”
But Campbell also wanted to share his story to raise awareness that driving can damage skin in ways many people don’t realize. His dermatologist told him the left side of his face was particularly affected after years of driving and the resulting sun exposure from the driver’s side window.
“I would never, ever have considered putting on sunscreen to drive,” Campbell says.
The phenomenon has been documented in The New England Journal of Medicine. It featured the case of a veteran truck driver who developed visible skin aging on the left side of his face from chronic exposure to the sun, while the right side of his face looked much younger.
It happens when ultraviolet A rays get through the window glass, leading to skin damage and the potential for skin cancer, the authors wrote.
What is pre-skin cancer?
Campbell went to his dermatologist in August after noticing what looked like a growth on his right temple. It turned out to be just an accumulation of dead skin, but his doctor gave him a full-body skin check and noticed something else.
The Sportsnet broadcaster says he was diagnosed with pre-cancerous skin growths he described as “tiny red splotches” on his face, which he never noticed.
It’s a condition known as actinic keratosis and often appears as a reddish spot on the face, ears, balding scalp, hands, neck, lips and other areas of the body that get the most sun, the American Academy of Dermatology notes.
Some of these spots can turn into squamous cell carcinoma, a type of skin cancer.
About 40 million Americans develop actinic keratosis each year, making it one of the most common skin conditions dermatologists treat, the AAD says. It has photos of the possible ways the pre-cancerous growths can look.
Treatment depends on how many spots there are and what they look like.
'Like someone holding a blow torch to your face'
Campbell’s doctor recommended treating both sides of his face with photodynamic therapy. The procedure involved applying a special cream, known as a photosensitizing agent, and allowing the skin to absorb it for three hours.
When red light is later applied to the area, it causes the cream to react in a way that kills the pre-cancerous cells, according to the American Cancer Society. The treated skin may turn red and swell for a while.
The light was applied for “seven torturous minutes,” Campbell says. “The feeling is like someone holding a blow torch to your face,” he adds.
The left side was treated in October and returned to normal in 10 days. He underwent the same treatment for the right side of his face in November.
As someone with red hair and fair skin, Campbell says he’s always used sunscreen and tried to stay out of the sun, but the experience has made him even more careful.
He now keeps a little tube of sunscreen near the door of his Toronto home so that even when he’s doing something as simple as driving his kids to school in the morning, his face is protected.
Three years ago, Campbell revealed he’s living with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, a blood cancer that’s under control with medication. Patients with the condition have an increased risk of skin cancer, according to the American Cancer Society.
Campbell says his doctors don’t know if that’s related to the pre-cancerous skin growths on his face, but he’s vigilant for any other health problems.
He’s happy he’s done the treatment on his face and called the public reaction to his candid photo “wonderful.”
“The benefit of me doing this is that I have heard from many, many people who have changed their (sunscreen) habits,” Campbell says.
