Effects of aging and chronic sun exposure on melanocytes in human skin

Both aging and sun exposure have well-documented effects on the human melanocyte system. Paired biopsies of habitually exposed and nonexposed skin from adjacent anatomic sites were obtained from 8 donors aged 28 to 80 yr in order to study the combined effect of chronic actinic irradiation and chronologic aging. Density of dopa-positive melanocytes was roughly twofold higher in the exposed than in the nonexposed skin at all ages, suggesting an irreversible effect of sun exposure. Melanocyte density declined approximately 6 to 8% of the surviving population per decade in both sites. Dopa-positivity of individual melanocytes was consistently greater in the chronically exposed skin than in the nonexposed skin of the same subject and did not vary with age. These data strengthen and expand earlier observations of age-related melanocyte changes, and explain the apparent paradox of a generalized increase in pigmentation and simultaneous decrease in melanocyte density which frequently accompany advancing age. In addition, the present study suggests that the principal effect of chronic sun exposure on the human pigmentary system is not premature "aging" as currently recognized histologically, but rather activation and/or proliferation of the exposed melanocytes.