Why a Good Beauty Clinician Uses Skin Typing Prior to Patient Treatment

Why is skin typing critical when assessing treatment options for clients with skin disorders or for initial treatment for new patients? 

In determining the best course of action to take, clinical research has shown that genetics, hair color, eye color, ethnicity and true skin color all play into the skin’s response to injury, including some treatments such as dermabrasion and microdermabrasion, laser resurfacing and chemical peels.  The aesthetician is able to determine which clients may have a greater or lesser risk of complications, including scars or pigmentation problems from treatments by typing their skin.

A pioneer in skin typing, and a man who is considered to be the father of modern academic dermatology is Dr. Tomas Fitzpatrick, for whom the Fitzpatrick Skin Typing system is named.  Dr. Fitzpatrick served as the chair of the dermatology Department at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boson.  Known as the “most influential dermatologist of the last 100 years” Dr. Fitzpatrick created a system that sets treatment parameters predicting a patient’s response to ultra violet light based on their type of skin.

Skin typing can be a predictor of the response of a client’s skin to treatments.  It is different from aging analysis because the later examines the past history, or what damage has been done to date. The\ Fitzpatrick skin typing scale divides skin up in the following types:

Type I

skin color white; eye and air color blond hair and green eyes.  Reaction to the sun consists of burning and freckles.  Ethnicity English or Scottish.

Type II

white skin color, blond air, green or blue eyes.  Sun reaction is consistent burning and freckles, and difficulty I tanning.  Ethnicity is northern European.

Type III

white skin color, blond or brown hair, blue or brown eyes.  The reaction to the sun is tanning after several burns with the possibility of freckles.  Ethnicity if Germanic.

Type IV

brown skin color, brown hair and brown eyes.  Reaction to the sun is tanning more than average, burning only rarely and freckles only rarely.  Ethnicity is Mediterranean, Southern European or Hispanic.

Type V

dark brown skin color, brown or black hair and brown eyes.  Reaction to the sun is tanning easily, rarely burning and no freckles.  Ethnicity is Asian, Indian and some Africans.

Type VI

black skin color, black hair and brown or black eyes.  Reaction to the sun includes tanning, never burning, and deep pigmentation that never freckles.  Ethnicity is African.Utilizing the types listed allows a clinician to recommend only the procedures that will benefit a client, without undue complications. It also allows an aesthetician to predict the outcome of various treatments.