Relationship between skin phototype and MED in Korean, brown skin

The Fitzpatrick skin classification has been a useful method to categorize cutaneous sensitivity to ultraviolet radiation (UVR), although it was based originally on responses in white skin. Because the relevance of this phototype in brown skin is in question, we investigated skin phototypes of university students by a self-reporting questionnaire and measured their MEDs in Korean, brown skin. After studying our explanation of the definition of Fitzpatrick skin types, 707 Korean university students answered the questionnaire. We then measured UVB MEDs in 156 randomly selected male students. The order of frequency of skin type was type III (55.0%), IV (29.0%), and V (12.3%) by the questionnaire, with the sun sensitive categories (types I and II) reported only for 3.7%. There was no significant difference in MEDs between types IV and V, and the mean MED of each skin type did not show a monotonic increase with increasing skin type. Subjects with MEDs of 70-90 mJ/cm2 (corresponding to the MED of skin type V, as proposed by Pathak & Fitzpatrick) represented about half or more of the subjects in all categories, even types II and III. Subjects with MEDs lower than 60 mJ/cm2 were more prevalent in types II and III compared with types IV and V. We suggest that there is at best a weak relationship between the skin types, by the Fitzpatrick method, and MEDs in Korean, brown skin.