Do Dark Skinned People Need Sunscreen?

I can imagine the thoughts going through the heads of some of you right now, reading the title of this post, and the looks on your faces. It’s most likely the same sort of looks I get whenever I ask patients if they use sunscreen daily. These looks are usually characterized by rolled eyes and raised eyebrows, accompanied with a “Hello doctor, I am dark skinned…what on earth do I need sunscreen for?!” Well, contrary to popular belief, black skin does crack! The bare truth is that dark-skinned people do need sunscreen and I will tell you why.

It has been established that the amount of melanin present in the skin determines the amount of sun damage a person can acquire. In fact, it is said that the melanin present in dark skin provides a sun protection factor (SPF) approximately equal to 13.4, compared to 3-4 in white skin making people with white skin more susceptible to developing skin cancer. However, dark skin sometimes scars more than other skin types making them more prone to hyperpigmentation.

To find out why this happens to dark skinned peeps…read our post here.