Do Black people need sunscreen? Plug this question into Google and you get over 70 million results that all emphasize a resounding yes.
And yet the conversation of how necessary this preventive practice is has been disregarded — and sometimes by the Black community — for years.
Leah Donnella wrote for NPR’s ‘Code Switch,’ “I never really worried about protecting my skin from the sun. ‘Black don’t crack’ wasn’t a phrase I really heard a lot growing up. If anything, it was ‘black don’t burn.’”
However, this lack of awareness isn’t a myth that comes from the Black community itself. It starts with the medical community.
Historically, the field of medicine hasn’t given Black people adequate medical care, and the field of dermatology is no exception.
Dr. Chesahna Kindred, vice chair of the National Medical Association dermatology section, agrees that there’s a difference in attention given to Black skin within the practice.
And data backs up this disparity: A 2012 study found that 47 percent of dermatologists admitted that they weren’t properly trained on skin conditions in Black people.
Even in cases of pigment-related skin diseases where sun sensitivity is a concern, doctors still tell Black people to use sunscreen much less than their white counterparts.
Another study found that in the case of dyschromia, Black individuals were less likely to receive combination therapy compared to other skin types.
How did this sunscreen gap come about?
When it comes to skin cancer, decreasing the risk is just as important as decreasing the degree to which people die from it.
Research suggests that many patients and physicians believe that non-white people are “immune” to common skin cancers. They aren’t. However, what’s left out of the conversation is: Black folks who do develop skin cancer may be more likely to receive a late-stage prognosis.
Studies show that black people are four times more likely to be diagnosed with advanced stage melanoma and tend to succumb at a rate of 1.5 times more than white people with a similar diagnosis.
Read Complete Article at Sunscreen Gap
Also Read: Skin cancer Diagnosis Apps
