John A. Kenney Jr., M.D., professor of dermatology at Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, D.C., notes that black skin seems to have more protection against UV rays than white skin, due to melanin and perhaps other factors. However, warns Kenney, blacks can sunburn to some degree. And UVA does cause some aging changes in black skin as well. Gilchrest worries that teens are tanning younger and spending more time in the sun than ever before. The unseen damage that occurs at the age of 16 has 60 years to turn into cancer, she says, but shows up as early as age 30 as wrinkling, uneven skin color, and coarsening of the skin.
Most skin cancer is a result of exposure to sun when people are young.
The least common, but the deadliest, of these is malignant melanoma. Regardless of skin color, all people are vulnerable to skin cancer, although among African Americans, for example, the incidence is very low. According to the American Cancer Society, in 1995 there will be 800,000 new cases of all skin cancers, up from 700,000 in 1993 and 400,000 in 1980. According to a 1990 study released by Brown University, about 2 percent of malignant melanomas are in people younger than 20. There are several reasons for the increase in skin cancer, explains Sydney Hurwitz, M.D., clinical professor of pediatrics and dermatology at Yale University School of Medicine.