Shades of Disease

In the medical field, we are often shown pictures of what disease looks likes in lighter skin tones but not darker skin tones. What this possibly means for physicians is that it becomes more difficult to identify patterns of skin disease in a large group of patients with diverse ethnicites. Especially in light of the #melaninmagic movement where more people are embracing their dark skin tones, it is important for a provider to know how to treat patients from all ethnic and racial backgrounds.

A recent 2018 study from University of British Columbia (UBC) and the University of Toronto (U of T) discovered that there is a lack of darker skin tones being represented in textbooks. The textbook chapters on how to detect skin cancer also failed to show what cancer looked like in darker skin tones. In lieu of this, there was an estimated five-year melanoma survival rate for black patients between 2007 and 2013 of only 69% versus 94% for white patients.

What happens when we get used to looking at what disease looks like only one type of skin tone? We get really good at diagnosing disease in lighter skin tones but may fail to recognize it in darker skin tones. Medical education should be focused on detecting disease in multiple skin tones. Only then will be able to best treat everyone who walks through the door of the clinic.

Citation:

Patricia Louie, Rima Wilkes. Representations of race and skin tone in medical textbook imagery. Social Science & Medicine, 2018; 202: 38 DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.02.023