Reliability of self-assessment in determining skin phototype for Korean brown skin

The widely used skin phototype system first introduced by Fitzpatrick, which is based on the history of an individual tendency to burn and tan, was studied in 733 Korean men by means of a self-assessment questionnaire. Combining two factors, individual burning and tanning tendency, less than half (43.9%) could be classified according to the skin phototype system. Furthermore, the concordant ratio between subjective skin phototypes assessed by the subjects themselves and classification by combining self-reported burning and tanning tendencies was much lower (34.4%). In a subgroup of 156 subjects, the minimal erythema dose (MED) was determined and compared with the reported tendencies to burn and tan. The results showed that subjects with higher MEDs tended to report more tanning. We concluded that in Korean brown skin, there is a disconcordant relationship between reported burning and tanning tendencies and, though reliable for white skin, self-assessed skin phototypes are unreliable in Korean brown skin.