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Melanin Matters: How Skin Cancer Affects People of Color

Wednesday, July 17, 2024
Black woman applying sunscreen in pool

If you have black or brown skin, you have more melanin, or natural pigment, than people with white skin. Extra melanin provides protection from sun-related damage. This defense, however, isn’t perfect. 

“Having darkly pigmented skin, skin that’s rich in melanin, offers some natural protection against skin cancer, but it certainly doesn’t provide immunity to skin cancer,” says Andrew Alexis, M.D., MPH, vice chair for diversity and inclusion for the Department of Dermatology and Dermatologist at the Center for Diverse Skin Complexions at Weill Cornell Medicine. “When skin cancers occur in individuals with richly pigmented skin, they tend to have some differences in appearance, location and prognosis[compared with skin cancers in people with less pigmented skin].”