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Sunscreen for dark skin is a must
Of the many sunscreen myths out there, one of the biggest is that people with darker skin don’t need to use it. “There’s study after study showing that the majority of African-Americans don’t wear sunscreen,” says Mona Gohara, M.D., associate clinical professor of dermatology at Yale School of Medicine. “One survey showed that over 60 percent of dark-skinned people of all ethnicities, some of whom had even gotten sunburned, didn’t think they could get skin cancer.”
It’s true that the more pigment (melanin) skin has, the more it’s naturally protected from damage from the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays. For example, medium-dark skin provides an SPF of about 13 and filters twice as much UV radiation as white skin.
Another truth is that skin cancer isn’t very common among people of color, accounting for just 1 to 2 percent of all cancer cases in African-Americans and 2 to 4 percent in Asians. And when it does occur, it’s often in areas that aren’t normally exposed to the sun, such as on the palms of the hands or soles of the feet or under finger or toenails.
Check out our sunscreen ratings and find more advice in our guide to staying safe in the sun.
But this doesn’t mean darker-skinned people can feel safe skipping sunscreen. Everyone is susceptible to the kind of sun damage that can cause skin cancer and signs of aging. And when people of color develop skin cancer, it’s much more deadly. That was the finding of a study from the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine, which reported that although African-Americans are 10 times less likely than Caucasians to develop non-melanoma skin cancer (such as basal and squamous cell carcinomas), they’re more likely to die from it. The reason is that it’s usually detected at an advanced stage, when it’s more difficult to treat.
The same fate about late diagnosis holds true for melanoma, which—because it’s most likely to spread—is already the deadliest type of skin cancer: According to data from the National Cancer Institute, the overall average five-year survival rate for African-Americans is only 75 percent, vs. 93 percent for Caucasians.
The sun also causes spots, blotchiness, and other pigment problems that make people look less healthy and older than their years—up to 20 years older, according to one study. While these can occur among all skin types they’re both more common and trickier to resolve in people with darker skin—in part because some remedies can cause inflammation that triggers even more discoloration.
Taking this all into consideration, Gohara recommends that people of color err on the side of safety: “There is no circumstance under which they shouldn’t be wearing sunscreen when exposed to the sun.”
Not surprisingly, that’s also the bottom line of the American Academy of Dermatology, which recently published recommendations for skin cancer prevention in people of color. For the most part, they’re the same sun safety strategies recommended for Caucasians: Seek shade whenever possible; wear sun-protective clothing, including a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses; stay out of tanning beds; and apply sunscreen with SPF of at least 30 to all exposed skin before going outdoors, and reapply every two hours and after swimming and sweating.
The one difference is the recommendation to take a vitamin D supplement—people with darker skin are more prone to vitamin D deficiency and sunscreen blocks production of the nutrient.
—Karyn Repinski
Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2015 Consumers Union of U.S.
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