Health Disparities Can Be Skin Deep

About half of patients will have skin of color by 2050, the U.S. Census Bureau projects. Of the many ways this demographic change will affect American society, there is one medical implication that is not widely appreciated. Dermatologists and the primary care physicians who refer to them will be faced with cutaneous diseases that happen more frequently in patients of color. Such skin conditions may be unique to patients with pigmented skin, present differently than in white patients or not be understood adequately.