Are Individuals With Darker Skin Immune? Who Should Wear Sunscreen Melanoma

True or False: Dark-skinned People Don't Demand Sunscreen

mythbuster graphic Is information technology truthful that people with dark skin are non at risk of getting a sunburn or skin cancer ? This is a common misconception that dermatologists are working hard to clear up. Although dark skin does offer more natural protection from the sun's harmful rays than light pare, no i is immune to the damage caused by the sun.

Evidence for the Wellness Claim

Dark-skinned people, including Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans, naturally produce more of a chemical called melanin, which gives the pare color and absorbs the sun's dissentious ultraviolet (UV) rays. In fact, nighttime-skinned Blacks accept a natural skin protection cistron (SPF) of up to 13, and filter twice as much UV radiations equally fair-skinned people.

SPF is a rating calculated by comparing the amount of time it would accept for an unprotected fair-skinned person to burn, to the amount of time it would have to burn down when wearing sunscreen. For example, SPF 15 allows a person to multiply the initial unprotected called-for fourth dimension by a factor of xv. If a person's skin turns ruddy subsequently ten minutes in the sunday with no sunscreen, for example, it would have 150 minutes for him to burn. Too, an SPF of 15 indicates that 93% of sunburning rays are deflected.

Evidence Against the Health Claim

Health experts propose everyone, regardless of peel color, to use sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30. Although night-skinned people won't get sunburned as apace, they will still burn and are nevertheless susceptible to sun-induced damage—such as lord's day spots and wrinkles—and cancer . At a meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology, researchers from the University of Cincinnati (UC) presented study results showing that dark-skinned people are actually more than likely to dice from peel cancer than calorie-free-skinned people.

The atomic number 82 author of the study pointed out that the commonly held belief that people with darker peel won't get sunburned or get skin cancer gives such people a simulated sense of security. They are less likely to have preventative measures, such as wearing sunscreen, and likewise are less probable to routinely bank check for signs of peel cancer. Every bit a outcome, when dark-skinned people are diagnosed with skin cancer, the disease may be in an avant-garde stage and more hard to treat.

Although fewer people with dark skin actually go skin cancer, the death rate for nighttime-skinned people with skin cancer is higher than for lite-skinned people (who technically are at greater risk of developing skin cancer). Increasing awareness of the importance of sunscreen and routine skin checks for people of all skin types is an of import part of skin cancer prevention.

Conclusion

Although dark skin is naturally more than protective against harmful rays from the sun than fair skin, people of all peel types can burn if they don't wear sunscreen. The fire may not be as obvious on dark pare, merely this does non mean it is harmless. It is of import for everyone to take preventative measures confronting sunburn and skin cancer. No one should consider themselves immune to sunburns and pare cancer!

References

The burning facts. United States Ecology Protection Agency website. Bachelor at: http://www.epa.gov/sunwise/doc/sunscreen.pdf . Published September 2006. Accessed August 16, 2006.

Dark skin does not block cancer. BBC News. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/one/hello/health/5219752.stm . Published July 2006. Accessed Baronial 16, 2006.

Facts nigh sunscreens. (2006). American Academy of Dermatology website. Available at: http://world wide web.aad.org/public/News/DermInfo/DInfoSunscreenFAQ.htm . Accessed August xvi, 2006.

Hall Howdy, Rogers JD. Sun protection behaviors among African Americans. Ethn Dis. 1999;ix:126-131.

Harper A. Skin cancer rare–but more than deadly–in people with darker skin. Academy of Cincinnati website. Bachelor at: http://uccancercenter.uc.edu/news/latest/release.cfm?id=4160 . Accessed August 16, 2006.

How to be safe when you lot're in the sun. The Nemours Foundation website. Available at: http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/lookout man/out/summer%5Fsafety.html . Updated August 2007. Accessed November 17, 2008.

Sunscreen FAQs. American Academy of Dermatology website. Available at: https://www.aad.org/media-resources/stats-and-facts/prevention-and-care/sunscreens. Accessed October twenty, 2014.