Skin Disorders Affecting Dark Skin Patients
At Staten Island Dermatology, Dr. Josiane Lederman has spent many years treating a diverse set of patients from all backgrounds and walks of life. For any dermatologist, NYC provides an amalgamation of different skin tones and patients suffering from skin issues of all kinds. As the top dermatologist, NYC has in practice, Dr. Lederman takes the utmost care for patients – often grouping them into categories of similar skin tone, and texture. Those patients with darker skin have a higher melanin content, while such melanin often protects against harmful things like UV radiation, it can also be the root and reasoning for certain disorders as well. For those fairer skinned patients the lack of melanin can lead to overexposure to the sun and cause patients to become overly tanned, sun-burnt, and in the most severe of cases, it can lead to skin cancer, and melanomas. The cosmetic skin care market has experienced an amazing shift during recent years. A number of products and serums have been designed specifically in order to treat those patients with dark or light-skin – again grouping patients into categories based on skin tone. While this may seem to be a means of segregating, in actuality it allows dermatologist NYC and beyond to be able to better research and understand disorders of the skin by tone. At Staten Island Dermatology Dr. Lederman treats a number of skin disorders that are far more common to those patients with darker skin tones. Some of these common issues are:
Vitiligo
Vitiligo is a relatively uncommon disorder affecting those patients with darker skin tones. As a top dermatologist NYC has in practice, Dr. Lederman treats a number of different cases every year. Vitiligo is a depigmentation of the skin where pigment cells, known as melanocytes become to deplete and degrade. Once this occurs the patient loses their pigmentation in different blotchy areas – appearing as white patches of skin along a patients otherwise dark skin. Vitligo affects males and women equally with a number of famous cases, including Michael Jackson.
Melasma
Melasma, while it can affect both fare and dark skinned patients is common in dark skinned women more than any other group. It presents itself as dark-brown blotches along the skin and in dark skin patients causes the skin to darken in certain blotchy areas.
Pseudofolliculitis Barbae
Also commonly known as razor bumps, this is a skin disorder that affects mainly dark skinned men – especially those with ties to Africa. The resulting issue causes bad swelling, and ingrown hairs – often times leading to bacterial infections. This is most often occurring in those men with poor shaving habits or those who pluck their hair, especially on the face.
Traction Alopecia
For any dermatologist NYC is a diverse area of patients with hairstyles from different cultures. Traction alopecia is a form of hair loss often acquired from certain ethnic hairstyles common amongst African women, and Caribbean women. Those who tend to wear braided hair or hair in corn rows, as the hairstyle pulls the hair outward from the roots and scalp – causing hair loss along the edges.
Whether you are a darker skinned patient or a farer skinned patient, Dr. Lederman provides patients with the highest level of dermatological care available in NYC. For more information on the top dermatologist NYC has in practice, contact Staten Island Dermatology.
