Pharmacist Dana Beiki shares strategies for safely and effectively treating varied skin types.
Contemporary aesthetic practice increasingly serves diverse populations, where variations in skin physiology, facial structure and pigmentation render standardised approaches insufficient. Fitzpatrick skin types (FST) IV–VI face higher risks of pigmentary complications, hypertrophic scarring, keloids, melasma, post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH) and atrophic scarring compared with lighter phototypes.1-3 Beyond biology, cultural identity strongly shapes treatment goals.
FST IV–VI encompass individuals with darker skin tones, including but not limited to people of African, Afro-Caribbean, South Asian, Middle Eastern and certain Latin American or Indigenous backgrounds.4-9
Approaching cultural and aesthetic preferences
Beauty is interpreted through cultural context. While FST I-II, such as Scottish, Irish and Russian patients, may often emphasise facial shape, African patients may prioritise skin tone and…
