#JEANINE DOWNIE M.D SKIN#

“The biggest concern I hear from my patients with darker skin is about the cosmetic appearance of the sunscreen once it’s applied,” says Lester. One barrier to sunscreen use is finding one that works for your skin. This is the case no matter what your skin tone, but for people with darker skin, emerging evidence suggests that visible light from the sun-which isn’t filtered by sunscreen-plays a large role in pigment changes in the skin, according to a dermatology expert consensus panel on photoprotection recently published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

It’s important, too, to take other sun protective measures, such as covering up with clothing and a wide-brimmed hat, seeking shade, and whenever possible, avoiding the sun between 10 am and 4 pm when it’s at its peak strength. “Skin discoloration is among the most common complaints in patients with brown skin, and regular use of sunscreen is a critical component of the treatment regimen.” “The bulk of the benefit to wearing sunscreen in patients with brown skin is that it helps minimize skin discoloration and premature wrinkling,” says Crystal Aguh, MD, director of the Ethnic Skin Program at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. But even if you don’t burn and aren’t worried about skin cancer, sunscreen is the key to keeping skin healthy.

People who have darker skin-and the slight protection that extra melanin provides-might be tempted to skimp. The American Academy of Dermatology recommends that everyone use a broad-spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher every day. Most experts agree that’s not a good move. adults, 61 percent of Blacks and 23 percent of Hispanics said they never wear sunscreen. in whites?”Īccording to a 2020 Consumer Reports nationally representative survey of 2,007 U.S. “Why are there such drastic differences between mortality rates even though skin cancer is much less common in Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians vs. “I think perhaps the most important conversation to have around skin cancer is the disparities that exist within it,” says Jenna Lester, MD, an assistant professor of dermatology and director of the Skin of Color Program at the University of California, San Francisco.

The outcome is that skin cancer can be harder to treat and, in the case of melanoma, be more deadly in nonwhites. “Even doctors often don’t think about skin cancer when they’re treating people of color,” Downie says. That’s partly because of a lack of awareness about the risks and because skin cancer can look much different and be found in different places on the body (such as the palms and soles of the feet). Skin cancer is often diagnosed at a later stage in people of color than in whites. Among Asian women in the study, those who got the most sun over their lifetime had a risk that was about 4.5 times greater.Īnd the rate of melanoma, a potentially fatal type of skin cancer, is still 5 in 100,000 for Hispanics and 1 in 100,000 for non-Hispanic Blacks, Asians, and Pacific Islanders, compared with 28 in 100,000 for non-Hispanic whites, according to the American Cancer Society. For example, in a study published in the journal Cancer Causes & Control, Asian men who had the most sun exposure in childhood had a risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma (a type of skin cancer than isn’t usually fatal but can be disfiguring) that was about three times greater than those who got the least sun exposure. Asians, Blacks, and Hispanics do have a significantly lower incidence of skin cancer compared with whites.

Jeanine downie m.d