RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SKIN PHOTOTYPE AND MED IN KOREAN, BROWN SKIN

The Fitzpatrick skin classification has been a useful method to catego rize cutaneous sensitivity to ultraviolet radiation (UVR). although it was based originally on responses in white skin. Because the relevanc e of this phototype In brown skin is in question, we investigated skin phototypes of university students by a self-reporting questionnaire a nd measured their MEDs in Korean, brown skin. After studying our expla nation of the definition of Fitzpatrick skin types, 707 Korean univers ity students answered the questionnaire. We then measured UVB MEDs in 156 randomly selected male students. The order of frequency of skin ty pe was type III (55.0%), IV (29.0%), and V (12.3%) by the questionnair e, with the sun sensitive categories (types I and II) reported only fo r 3.7%. There was no significant difference in MEDs between types IV a nd V, and the mean MED of each skin type did not show a monotonic incr ease with increasing skin type, Subjects with MEDs of 70-90 mJ/cm(2) ( corresponding to the MED of skin type V, as proposed by Pathak & Fitzp atrick) represented about half or more of the subjects in all categori es, even types II and III. Subjects with MEDs lower than 60 mJ/cm(2) w ere more prevalent in types II and III compared with types IV and V. W e suggest that there is at best a weak relationship between the skin t ypes, by the Fitzpatrick method, and MEDs in Korean, brown skin.