title: Relevance of skin phototyping to a Korean population.
abstract: We have determined skin phototype by a self-reporting questionnaire proposed by Fitzpatrick in 128 Korean medical students. We also measured the minimal erythema dose (MED), minimal melanogenic dose and investigated their relationship to phototype. A questionnaire of skin phototypes revealed that 13.3% of the students are skin phototypes I and II. Based on MEDs, we demonstrated that 14.8% of the students fall into the UV-sensitive group as defined by an MED of less than 40 mJ/cm2, which is the upper range of MED of phototypes I and II in a white population. The skin phototypes did not show a positive correlation to MEDs and only 2.3% of students classified as skin phototypes I and II showed an MED below 40 mJ/cm2. This study indicates that the skin phototyping method proposed by Fitzpatrick does not reliably predict UV-sensitive individuals within the Korean population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Korea.
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: W S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Koh
authors.forename: J I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Youn
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004890:Erythema / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D012867:Skin / Q000528:radiation effects*; D012880:Skin Pigmentation / Q000528:radiation effects; D013471:Sunburn / Q000209:etiology*; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays