Skin reflectance in the Han Chinese and Tibetan populations

Genetic and environmental factors are involved in the determination of skin pigmentation in humans. With the recent development of statistical and gen etic tools in mapping complex traits in humans, it is becoming feasible to utilize such methods in identifying genes involved in skin pigmentation. Fu rthermore, the use of new portable reflectance spectroscopy instruments suc h as the Photovolt ColorWalk colorimeter allows researchers to measure skin reflectance of a large number of subjects with ease and accuracy. We used a new portable instrument (Photovolt ColorWalk) to study the skin reflectan ce of 372 Han Chinese and 274 Tibetan individuals to establish background r eflectance measurements of unexposed skin of the inner upper arm in these t wo populations. In addition, we explored the effect of various factors such as age and gender on skin reflectance.