The Eumelanin Human Skin Colour Scale
To date there is no standard nomenclature for describing the full spectrum of human constitutive skin colour.
The Fitzpatrick scale of skin phototypes, while widely used incorrectly to describe human skin colour, was not created for this purpose, but as a simple method for describing the sun reactivity of human skin, with a particular emphasis on people of European ancestry with more lightly pigmented skin.
The Eumelanin Human Skin Colour Scale (EHSCS) was developed by a multi-disciplinary group of international researchers as a solely descriptive scale, that enables the full spectrum of human constitutive skin colour to be described in a more objective and equitable manner.
Eumelanin, the dominant chromophore of human skin, has been used as a central descriptive word of the nomenclature of the scale.
The scale is based on published skin reflectance data (notably melanin index values) for indigenous human populations. The categories of the scale (nomenclature and Melanin Index values) are:
- Eumelanin Low (EML)-<25
- Eumelanin Intermediate Low (EMIL): 25-<50
- Eumelanin Intermediate (EMI): 50-<75
- Eumelanin Intermediate High (EMIH): 75-<100
- Eumelanin High (EMH):>100
The EHSCS enables the full spectrum of human constitutive skin colour to be described in an objective and equitable manner.
Phase 2 study is currently ongoing to develop a colour matching chart (software/app) that corresponds to the above 5-point of the scale.
References:
Click here to read the press release from the British Association of Dermatologists about The Eumelanin Human Skin Colour Scale
