NEW YORK – All patients, regardless of skin color, need to be screened for skin cancer and receive sun protection education, according to Dr. Brooke A. Jackson.
"We have done a pretty good job of relaying the skin cancer awareness/risk message to fair skin types, but we still need to work on the message to darker skin types," noted Dr. Jackson. "This includes offering skin cancer screenings to all of our patients regardless of skin color, having a [high] level of suspicion for nonhealing lesions or changing lesions in darker skin types, and discussing skin cancer risks and sun protection with our patients who have darker skin."
Dr. Brooke A. Jackson
Dr. Jackson and her colleagues surveyed 105 dark-skinned adult patients who presented to her private practice in Chicago for a variety of reasons.
Overall, 91 patients identified themselves as black, 9 as Hispanic, 4 as Asian, and 1 as Middle Eastern, noted Dr. Jackson, clinical assistant professor of dermatology at Northwestern University in Chicago.
Of the 105 patients, 9 had a Fitzpatrick skin type of III, 29 had type IV, 64 had type V, and 3 patients had type VI.
Patients read the descriptions for several types of lesions and were asked to identify whether a particular lesion was a risk factor for skin cancer, including "dark spot with irregular border," "new mole," "nonhealing wound," "bleeding lesion," and "shiny pink bump."
Dr. Jackson found that "regardless of ethnic origin or skin type, ‘dark spot with irregular borders’ followed by ‘new mole’ were the most frequent top two choices" selected as being high risk for skin cancer.
"Shiny pink bump" was the least selected choice for recognition of skin cancer and was not selected by any respondents with skin types III and VI, she reported.
Indeed, "15 respondents, most of whom were of African ethnicity and/or had skin type V, were unaware that skin of color was at risk for developing skin cancer," noted Dr. Jackson and her colleagues.
As for skin protective behaviors, 70 of the 91 black patients reported use of sunblock or sunscreen, and 47 used protective clothing. Twenty-nine black patients practiced sun avoidance. Ten of the black patients reported that they took no precaution at all with regard to sun exposure. Similarly, among the 64 Fitzpatrick skin type V patients, 13 reported practicing no sun protection.
Dr. Jackson stated that neither she nor her colleagues had any disclosures relevant to this presentation.