fairer skin than on darker skin, and because doctors may have been trained only with fair-skin depictions, the chance for misdiagnosis in people with dark skin increases.
Change has also come to the sunscreen industry.
Jorge Martínez-Bonilla, senior vice president and partner with Chicago market research company C + R Research, says failures within the medical community to provide adequate skin care for people with dark skin mirror the lack of availability of sunscreens to meet patients’ needs, especially for Black people.
“What that has done is that it has pushed Black entrepreneurs, from one day to the next, to come up with their own solutions and their own products,” Martínez-Bonilla adds. “Not only from the lack of availability, but because these are the people who know their needs best.”
Katonya Breaux is one of those entrepreneurs. She wasn’t thrilled when, in her 30s and 40s, she noticed she was getting moles on her face and neck similar to those she’d seen on older family members while she was growing up. She assumed it was just part of aging. But her dermatologist said it was sun damage.
“I was, literally, shocked. I was like: ‘But I’m Black,’” she says, adding that she had no experience with sunscreen growing up. “It was so foreign to me. I believed we just didn’t need it.”
After struggling to find a sunscreen that didn’t leave a residue or feel like it was burning her skin, she worked with a chemist who helped her create a tinted mineral-based sunscreen. At first, she intended it just for her personal use, but she ultimately launched Unsun Cosmetics. The Los Angeles-based company educates about skincare and sells products designed for consumers with dark skin.
Shontay Lundy also struggled to find a sunscreen that didn’t “leave a blue, purple, or other-colored hue on my skin.” Until, she says, “I realized it didn’t exist.”
So, in 2016, she developed products that left no residue, ultimately launching Black Girl Sunscreen.
Education is fundamental to her company’s advertising, Lundy says. “Our mission is to equip people of all ages and skin tones with the right sunscreen products to take their skin health seriously and protect themselves from sun damage.”
Shelton, whose chance encounter in a store’s checkout line led to her cancer diagnosis, says she has become an evangelist for skin self-checks and sunscreen, and is now known at her local pool as “the sunblock lady.” The kind of skin cancer she had may not have stemmed from sun exposure, but it increased her awareness about skin damage and other types of skin cancers.
She has been cancer-free since the doctor successfully removed the tumor on her toe and she underwent chemotherapy and radiation. But the experience was traumatic.
“It’s life-altering,” she shares.
Still, she says, she’s resumed an active and full life. She says she will forever be grateful to the stranger who pulled her aside that day, as well as the doctor who disbelieved the first set of labs that came back, opting instead to trust his instincts to immediately begin treatment.
RELATED: 5 Surprising Things That Increase Your Skin Cancer Risk (It’s Not Just The Sun!)
Tips for Avoiding Skin Cancer for All Skin Tones
- Avoid direct sun, especially between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Keep babies out of the sun entirely.
- Use a broad-spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher every day. Reapply every two hours or after swimming or activity/sweating.
- Don’t leave sunscreen in the car, because temperature fluctuations can cause it to break down and become less effective.
- Wear clothing that covers arms and legs.
- Wear a broad-brimmed hat to protect the face, ears, and neck.
- Wear UV-blocking sunglasses.
- Avoid indoor tanning beds.
- Examine skin from head to toe every month. Look for dark spots or patches, or growths that are growing, bleeding, or changing; sores that are slow to heal, or heal and return; patches of skin that feel rough and dry; and dark lines underneath or around fingernails or toenails. Be diligent in checking nail beds, palms, soles of the feet, the head, lower legs, the groin, and other places that get little sun. Contact a doctor if you have any concerns.
- See a board-certified dermatologist at least once a year for a full-body examination.
By KHN (Kaiser Health News)