SKIN CARE: SUN AND SOLARIUM DAMAGE – SKIN TYPE
The susceptibility to sun-induced damage also depends on one’s skin type. This is largely governed by the amount of pigment in the skin, and one’s ancestry. Those individuals with a darker skin have more protection than those with a fair skin. Similarly, those with skins that tan easily are more protected than those who burn rather than tan. Races with a black or brown akin are much less likely to suffer from sunlight-induced problems than the Caucasians, with their light-coloured skin; they are certainly not exempt, however, from the deleterious effects of prolonged sun exposure.
Ones ethnic origins therefore are most important in assessing the skin’s response to prolonged sun exposure. People of Celtic origin are statistically much more prone to irreversible sun damage. These tight-complexioned people, who are descendants of the Celtic natives of Britain. Scotland. Ireland and northern France, appear to have some biological defect which interferes with normal pigment production and the repair of sun-induced damage. Even amongst Celts, though, those who are blue-eyed and have a lighter complexion, red or blond hair and freckled skin, are more susceptible to sun damage than darker individuals of the same race.
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