Table 1.

Differences between black skin and lightly pigmented skin.

Characteristics	Black skin	Lightly pigmented skin
Stratum corneum	Same thickness	Same thickness
	Compact stratum corneum cells, with great intercellular cohesion. More cell layers	Less compact cells
		Fewer cell layers
Melanocytes	Equal number	Equal number
Melanosomes	Elongated, not grouped, present throughout the epidermis	Small, grouped, absent in the superficial layers of the epidermis
Melanin content	Higher	Smaller
Hair	Spiral	Smooth, helical, wavy
Follicular degeneration syndrome	++	–
Traction alopecia	++	–
Mast cells	Large granules	Small granules
Pruritus	++	+
Collagen fibers	Small and stacked	Fiber fragments occasionally present.
Scarring and keloid formation	+++	+
Fibroblasts	Long and in greater number	Small and fewer in number
Vitamin D production	+	+++

Modified from Zaid, 2017.⁷