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Understanding Human Skin Color and Pigmentation: Factors, Classification, and Importance for Skin Health

Skin color classification

It is important in skin health and pigmentary disorders

One interesting fact about skin is that it constantly renews itself, without you even noticing. Your skin gets rid of about 30 to 40 thousand dead cells every minute, making room for new cells underneath to appear on the surface. The sequence of these processes helps your skin stay healthy and fresh, as if it is a continuous cosmetic process that never ends.

Differentiation of human skin color

However, every human being’s skin is characterized by a unique degree of color, and human skin color (Complexions Color) continues to find its beauty and attractiveness in all its shades of multi-hue diversity. This color does not change except under abnormal circumstances that affect it. When these conditions disappear, the skin returns to its natural color.

But, have you ever wondered: How is human skin color formed? How do abnormal changes occur in it?

The answer to this question is not as simple as some might expect. Rather, there are several overlapping and influencing factors in shaping a person’s final image of skin color.

In fact, the medical community is interested in this aspect. For example, in the February issue of last year, the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (J Am Acad Dermatol) published a study entitled “Integrating Skin Color Assessments into Clinical Practice and Research: A Review of the Current Approach,” which was conducted by 19 American researchers and doctors. They said: “Skin color classification can be important in skin health, pigmentary disorders, and tumor evaluation. It is also crucial for assessing disease course and response to a variety of therapeutic interventions, and also aids in the accurate classification of participants in clinical research studies. A panel of dermatologists conducted a review of published studies to evaluate current rating scales. We have identified 17 skin classification systems. These systems include a range of variable factors, such as reaction to UV light, ethnicity, and degree of pigmentation.

Diversification factors

The truth is that the beautiful spectrum of colors found in the human race depends on various factors that not only regulate the natural skin color of each person, but also regulate its change. It includes the following 4 factors:

> Genetics. The main factor responsible for human skin color (as well as hair color and iris color) is the extent of activity, quality and distribution of “melanogenesis”. Melanogenesis is the process of producing melanin (pigment) in the “epidermal” cells of the skin.

Melanin levels are determined primarily by genetics. Individuals born to parents with light skin will inherit shades of their parents’ lighter skin. Individuals born to dark-skinned parents also inherit darker skin tones. The level of this skin pigmentation, according to inherited factors, is medically referred to as “constitutive pigmentation.” Hundreds of different DNA genes work together to regulate this, to give your skin the color it has.

To clarify, every human being has two sets of DNA, one belonging to the mother and the other to the father. This random donation of DNA from each determines whether the child’s skin color is dark, light, or wheat.

There are a number of other factors that are determined at birth, such as the way a person’s body produces hormones, the way these hormones signal which cells produce melanin, and the availability of a number of chemical compounds in the skin, all of which also affect skin color. These factors, which are inherited at birth and cannot be changed, are referred to as “intrinsic factors.”

Skin color of both sexes

> Gender. The largest organ in the body is the skin. It is a topic that is being discussed in the cosmetic and scientific industry for its color determinants. One of these determinants is gender. Studies have shown that females have lighter skin than males. Skin color varies between the sexes in different age groups. There are several scientific explanations for why this is. These include sex differences in the availability of melanin pigments in skin cells, differences between the sexes in the amounts of blood hemoglobin in the blood vessels of the skin, as well as in the degrees of concentration of carotene pigments (from eating vegetables and fruits with shades of yellow to dark orange), and the independent and different hormonal effect between Sexes, as well as differences between the sexes in the extent of the necessity or possibility of exposure to sunlight and other environmental factors affecting skin color.

Some sources state that the availability of calcium and vitamin D in females, as a result of the greater need for it to nourish the fetus, is the reason for the skin color changing to a lighter color in females compared to men.

Women also tend to take better care of their skin compared to men, which makes it lighter. Many women use sun protection products while outdoors, which protects them from the effects of ultraviolet rays on skin color, thus reducing tanning and pigmentation.

>Sunlight. The sun’s rays contain a type of invisible rays from the category of “ultraviolet rays” (UV). As a result of interactions between skin cells and ultraviolet rays, skin cells increase their production of pigment spots, and thus the skin color changes toward a tan color during the next 48 hours. This is why the skin color of people who live in the tropics is darker, due to their proximity to the equator. Those who live in cold regions are farther from the equator and do not receive high UV rays, and therefore have a lighter skin tone.

To clarify, there are three types of ultraviolet rays, and they are arranged according to wavelength: Type A (UVA) is the longest, then Type B (UVB), then Type C (UVC). They are all transmitted coming from the sun with the solar rays. The ozone layer covering the planet works to repel all type C rays and most type B rays, while type A rays of ultraviolet rays have a longer wavelength, and thus they are able to penetrate the epidermis layer and reach deeper into the dermis layer and beyond. Under it.

Excessive exposure to ultraviolet rays for a short period of time leads to a darker change in skin color, and exposure to them for longer periods of time and repeatedly leads to skin aging, sagging, and skin cancer.

It should be noted that sunlight is not the only source of exposure of our skin to ultraviolet rays. Rather, there are other sources, including tanning booths, as well as lights that contain mercury vapors (Mercury vapor lighting), which are found in the powerful lights used to illuminate football stadiums. Or horse racing tracks, car races, school playgrounds, etc., and also the lights of some types of halogen, fluorescent, or incandescent bulbs, and some types of laser beams.

Environmental influences

> Environmental factors. There are many environmental conditions that can cause changes in skin color. This includes dust, dirt, and applying poor quality makeup and skin care products throughout the day, which may clog the pores of the skin and cause discolouration, or uneven skin color in one area rather than another in the same person, which requires careful cleaning of the skin well. Air pollution also negatively affects the condition of our skin; Because airborne particles may cause pigmentation disorders, making the skin lose its natural color.

Exposure to extreme temperatures also causes changes in skin color. For example, winter dries out the skin, making it dull, dry and flaky. Hot and humid environments expose the skin to ultraviolet rays, making it dark and pigmented. The nicotine in cigarettes reduces blood flow to the skin and removes essential nutrients, and this can lead to inappropriate sagging, wrinkles, darkening or pigmentation of the skin. As well as health disorders, whether they are fever, anemia, liver disease, kidney weakness, high blood pressure, anxiety, hormonal disorders, dehydration, or life-threatening conditions such as cancer, or any other disease, the skin does not There is no way you will react to each situation negatively. With a lack of nutrients, lack of hydration, and the use of certain types of medications, the skin becomes dull and its natural color changes.

• Consultation in internal medicine

The multiple layers of skin and where skin pigments are produced

>The skin is the largest “organ” in the body. The skin consists of three layers:

– Epidermis, which is the outer layer of the skin that is in direct contact with the environmental factors surrounding us and in which we live. There are no blood vessels in the epidermis layer.

– Dermis, which is the middle layer of skin structures. It contains hair follicles, sebaceous glands attached to the hair shaft, sweat glands, blood capillaries, nerve endings, and others.

– Hypodermis, which is the deep layer. It contains arteries, veins, fat and other components of subcutaneous tissue.

By microscopic anatomy, the outer “epidermis” layer is divided into five layers, the thickness of each layer varying according to the area of ​​the skin on the body. The general thickness of the “epidermis” layer in different areas of the body ranges from 15 to 350 slices of skin cells arranged one above the other.

There are four types of cells in the “epidermis” layer: One of them is melanocytes, which are located in the deep part of the epidermis layer. Melanocytes contain skin pigments (melanin), which determine a person’s permanent natural color of skin, iris, and hair. These cells constitute 5 to 10 percent of the cells of the deep parts of the “epidermis” layer. Specifically, there are between 1,000 and 2,000 melanocytes per square millimeter of skin.

The difference in people’s skin colors is not due to the difference in the “number” of melanocyte cells in the skin, but rather the difference in their “production activity” of the pigment melanin. Melanin pigment is produced from protein amino acids with the help of an enzyme called tyrosinase. People with albinism or albinism lack the genes necessary to make this enzyme in their skin melanocyte cells.

The production of melanogenesis by melanocyte cells varies, as those with light skin have a low level of production of this pigment, while production increases unevenly among those with different degrees of dark skin.

6 shades for different skin colours

> Dermatologists express the degrees of skin pigmentation in the six types of skin, which are:

– Pale white skin; Because it contains a very small amount of dyes. This skin is easily damaged by sunburn, and it is not possible to obtain a suntan.

– White to Light Beige skin, or the color of light natural wool, or what is called white with a reddish hue. This skin is easily sunburned and develops a very weak tan when exposed to the sun for long periods.

– Beige skin, or what is called white-yellow or wheat. It can get sunburned, but it resists it better than the two advanced types. It can easily acquire a bronze tan when exposed to sunlight for long periods.

– Light brown or olive skin. He gets mild burns and gets a bronze tan easily.

– Moderate Brown or bronze skin. It is rarely exposed to sunburn, and easily acquires a dark bronze tan when exposed to sunlight for long periods.

– Dark brown or black skin. It is very rare for it to suffer from sunburn, and it is already deeply dark with pigments in it.

2024-04-06 13:20:10

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