Determine Your Skin Type

Knowing Your Skin Type Prevents Sunburn

The questions below, and the resultant skin types, are the Fitzpatrick Skin Classification System. This is the same questionnaire your dermatologist may ask you to complete so he/she can determine your skin type.

There are many, many variations of this questionnaire on the Internet, but they
ARE NOT the genuine Fitzpatrick System, and may give you erroneous results.

Dermatologists sometimes use a DermaTone Skin Analyzer, or a similar skin typing device, to engender confidence into the patient that his/her true skin type is accurate. However, according to www.Bioline–International–Fitzpatrick.org, their is a very high correlation between the Fitzpatrick Skin Classification System (questionnaire) and the DermaTone Skin Analyzer (instrument), as well as other skin type analyzers.

The Fitzpatrick Skin Type Classification system was developed in 1975 by Harvard Medical School dermatologist Thomas Fitzpatrick, MD, Ph.D. to help determine drug dosage levels for treating psoriasis and other skin disorders.

What is your eye color?

Light blue, light gray, or light green
Blue, gray, or green
Hazel or light brown
Dark brown
Brownish black

What is your natural hair color?

Red or light blonde
Blonde
Dark blonde or light brown
Dark brown
Black

What is your natural skin color (before sun exposure)?

Ivory white
Fair or pale
Fair to beige, with golden undertone
Olive or light brown
Dark brown or black

How many freckles do you have on unexposed areas of your skin?

Many
Several
A few
Very few
None

How does your skin respond to the sun?

Always burns, blisters, and peels
Often burns, blisters, and peels
Burns moderately
Burns rarely, if at all
Never burns

Does your skin tan?

Never –– I always burn
Seldom
Sometimes
Often
Always

How deeply do you tan?

Not at all or very little
Lightly
Moderately
Deeply
My skin is naturally dark

How sensitive is your face to the sun?

Very sensitive
Sensitive
Normal
Resistant
Very resistant/Never had a problem

Compare Your Skin Type to Skin Color

Shown below is von Luschan's Chromatic Scale, a method of skin color typing used before the Fitzpatrick System was developed. The original 36 opaque tiles of the von Luschan's Chromatic Scale are correlated to the Fitzpatrick Skin Classification System:

Fitzpatrick Skin Type	von Luschan Scale	Skin Color Description
1	1 — 5	Very Light or White
2	6 — 10	Light
3	11 — 15	Intermediate
4	16 — 21	Mediterranean
5	22 — 28	Dark or Brown
6	29 — 36	Very Dark or Black

Natural (untanned) Skin Color
TanSome Sunless Tanning Lotion — von Luschan's Chromatic Scale

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It is very dangerous for Skin Types I and II to expose their skin to sunlight / tanning bed, even for a short period of time. If you have either skin type, stay out of the sun and tanning bed!

Read:

IF you are a Skin Type I or II, the ONLY way you can obtain a tan is using a sunless tanning lotion or self tanner!

Remember, the amount of sunlight that you can withstand in a day or in a lifetime depends heavily upon your skin type, but having dark skin does not exempt you from danger; dark–skin people get skin cancer too!