Reflections on Beauty

For years there has been a common misconception that ethnicities with darker skin tones are less prone to becoming casualties of skin cancer. According StyleList.com, a recent study shows that melanoma-related deaths are actually more common in darker skin tones.

In the study, 41,072 Florida residents with advanced melanoma were classified based on race. African Americans made up Twenty-six percent of the cases, 18% were Hispanics, and only 12% were Caucasian. But what’s the reasoning for this? Apparently minorities are less likely to be treated for skin cancer during the early detection stages.

Since there is an overwhelming public focus on the effects of sun damage on people with fair skin, their darker-skinned counterparts often feel bulletproof. That, and darker skin usually doesn’t burn or peel after having an excessive amount of sun exposure. According to Dr. Marcy Street, the first African-American female MOHS surgeon in the U.S., “there is a fairly common misconception among African Americans and Hispanics that we do not get skin cancer. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

To fight this statistic, individuals with darker skin should perform regular self-checks to ensure early detection of skin cancer. The ABCD Rule is recommended by the American Melanoma Association to help determine if a skin abnormality is cancerous or not:

• Asymmetry: if a lesion doesn’t look the same on both sides if it were divided in half
• Border: if the edges are blurry or jagged
• Color: any changes in color or if there are multiple colors within a lesion
• Diameter: if the lesion larger than ¼” in diameter

Skin cancer can be found almost anywhere on the body, including places that are not exposed to the sun directly. It is important to perform regular self-checks and report any abnormalities to your physician. And don’t forget that no matter how dark your skin is, it is always important to lather on a sunscreen of SPF30 or higher.

As the summer sun starts to heat up, people flock to the beach to work on their summer tan. For the longest time it was believed that people with fair skin and red hair were only capable of turning tomato red under sun. According to ScienceDaily, however, there is a new study that shows fairer complexions are just as capable of tanning as their olive counterparts.

Scientists once believed that redheads were more apt to burn due to their inability to make melanin—the pigment that is created to protect our skin against ultra-violet radiation. A team from the University’s Centre for Skin Sciences (CSS) found that in lab settings, pigment cells from very fair skin were able to create just as much melanin as olive skin.

The study, which was done on isolated skin cells cultured under identical conditions, showed that in some instances the fair skin created up to five time more melanin than olive skin. The study did show, however, that the fair skin had a higher inflammatory response to ultra-violet radiation than olive skin did.

According to CSS Director and Professor of Cell Biology Des Tobin, the study’s lead author, “Research into sunburn has tended to ignore melanocytes — the cells that make melanin — as it’s been assumed that was all they did. But our research has shown that in some skin types they also contribute to the inflammation that creates sunburn and it’s this, rather than their ability to make melanin, that seems to be at the root of how different skins respond to the sun.”

During the study, which was partially funded by Wellcome Trust and published in an issue of Pigment Cell and Melanoma Research, melanocytes were isoloated from five patients with fair skin and five with olive skin.  Some cells from each patient were stimulated to make melanin, while other cells were subjected to UVR. The melanin levels and levels of a pro-inflammatory chemical called prostaglandin-E2 (PGE2) were then measured.  While all of the fair skin cells were able to make just as much, if not more, melanin, the fair skin cells made up to five times more PGE2 than the olive skin cells.

According to Professor Tobin, melanocytes may play a role in UVR-induced inflammation. Anti-inflammatory intervention may be key in protecting fairer skin types from sunburn. However, future studies will be necessary to prove this. Fair or olive skin aside, here at Reflections Center for Skin & Body we recommend that you use SPF 45 sunscreen or higher for adequate sun protection.