How sensitive is your face to the sun?įitzpatrick TB. With beige to medium skin that does tan but can burn, type III patients typically respond very well to treatment with one of the many advanced lasers used at Body+Beauty Lab. How easily do you get skin burn by sun exposure?Ĩ. Fitzpatrick skin type III: This is the usually the most common skin type seen in patients seeking laser hair removal and a very common skin type in general. How many freckles are there on the unexposed areas of your skin?ĥ. It’s a useful indicator of someone’s likelihood of developing skin cancer, as well. tan, and is a reflection of how much melanin is present in the skin. What is your skin color before sun exposure?Ĥ. Essentially, the Fitzpatrick scale is a measure of how likely a person is to burn vs. You can find out your skin type by matching your test score and the Fitzpatrick skin type in Table 1. Add up all eight scores to get your test score. Fitzpatrick skin type testing scores.įor each of the eight questions, choose only one answer and write down the corresponding score. The Fitzpatrick Scale (also Fitzpatrick skin typing test or Fitzpatrick phototyping scale) is a numerical classification schema for the color of skin.
You can calculate your Fitzpatrick skin type by answering the questions in Table 2. Knowing your Fitzpatrick skin types can help you decide if you should get sunlight for vitamin D or you should avoid sunlight to reduce the risk for skin cancer. In general, Caucasians are more likely to have Fitzpatrick skin types I to IV, Asians and Pacific Islanders are more likely to have Fitzpatrick skin types III to V, and Africans are more likely to have Fitzpatrick skin types V to VI. The Fitzpatrick skin type is determined by genes related to skin color, eye color, and hair feature, and is associated with your risk for vitamin D deficiency and skin cancer. This is very different to other methods that classify skin based on what they look like. Fitzpatrick skin types and reaction to sunburn or sun tan. What is the Fitzpatrick Scale for Different Skin Types Designed in 1975, the numerical schema recognises the different skin types response to ultraviolet light. pale-white to black), and how the skin reacts to UV (most.
Gradually it has been expanded to include all skin types and used for most applications involving response to sunlight (hyperlink) or artificial UV lights, and in evaluating skin cancer risks. A person’s natural skin colour influences their sensitivity to UV and skin cancer risk, and can be classified on a scale the Fitzpatrick skin type classification scale, which ranges from 1 (high risk) to 6 (low risk). It was originally designed to distinguish reactions to UV light therapy for a skin condition called psoriasis in persons with white skin. The Fitzpatrick skin type is a skin classification system developed by dermatologist Thomas Fitzpatrick at Harvard Medical School in 1975.