There are many ways in which the skin protects itself from sun damage. The most important is the amount of melanin or pigmentation, which naturally exists in the skin. Over millions of years, people who live in intensely sunny areas like the equator have acquired high levels of pigmentation to protect themselves.
Black skin has the highest levels of melanin, followed by brown skin, oriental and Mediterranean. White skin evolved in northern Europe, where the intensity of the sun was dramatically less and therefore this skin type is the most susceptible to sun damage.
A real problem occurred when Caucasian people moved to areas, which were naturally too sunny for their skin. This group is the most likely to show early, visible sun damage. Dermatologists have formalized these differences in the amount of skin pigmentation in what is called Fitzpatrick’s Skin Types.
Type I VERY FAIR – always burns, never tans
Type II FAIR - always burns, sometimes tans
Type III MEDIUM - medium skin, occasionally burns, always tans
Type IV DARK MEDIUM - olive skin, rarely burns, always tans
Type V DARK - brown skin. never burns, always tans
Type VI VERY DARK – black skin, never burns, always tans
American Academy of Dermatology Vol.51, Issue 2 pg 323-324.
Type 1, 2, and 3 are the most prone to the effect of chronic sun damage. If you have ever had a sunburn, you belong to one of these groups. Frequently, people with Type 1 skin are so sensitive to the sun that they learn very early in life to avoid it. They suffer the most extreme damage and this damage appears earlier than in those with other skin types. This is particularly true of people who had blonde hair before age 10.
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