Everyone develops scars when their skin is injured. How prominently scars present themselves depends on your body’s reaction to the healing process. As a result, your skin type has a profound effect on the type and prominence of your scars. Your ethnicity plays a role in how scars appear in relation to your skin’s natural pigmentation. As a result, scars are more prominent in people with darker skin types.
What Are the Different Skin Types?
There are six different phototypes of skin. The lightest pigmentation is classified as Type I, with the darkest as Type VI. Type I has the smallest amount of melanin present, while Type VI has the highest amount of melanin. Types IV, V and VI are considered darker skin types.
Why Does Darker Skin Show Scars More Prominently?
Darker skin has more naturally occurring melanin in the outer surface, or epidermis. When new skin develops in the form of scars, the amount of melanin involved in the process is different than the rest of the surface skin. Sometimes it’s visibly lighter than the surrounding skin, or hypopigmented. It can also be much redder or darker than the surrounding surface, or hyperpigmented.
Keloid Scars
Keloid scars are hard, raised scars with a reddish or purplish coloring that develop outside the margins of the original wound that can develop in all skin types. According to a study published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, a branch of the National Institutes of Health, people with darker skin pigmentation are more likely to have severe skin scarring than those with fair skin. They are also more likely to develop keloids and form excessive scars.
To learn more about how Scarfade can be used to diminish scars, especially keloid scars, visit our page of Frequently Asked Questions.