Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2016 Jan;9(1):31-8.

Aging Differences in Ethnic Skin

Neelam A Vashi  1 , Mayra Buainain de Castro Maymone  1 , Roopal V Kundu  2
Affiliations
Review

Aging Differences in Ethnic Skin

Neelam A Vashi et al. J Clin Aesthet Dermatol. 2016 Jan.

Abstract

Aging is an inevitable and complex process that can be described clinically as features of wrinkles, sunspots, uneven skin color, and sagging skin. These cutaneous effects are influenced by both intrinsic and extrinsic factors and often are varied based on ethnic origin given underlying structural and functional differences. The authors sought to provide updated information on facets of aging and how it relates to ethnic variation given innate differences in skin structure and function. Publications describing structural and functional principles of ethnic and aging skin were primarily found through a PubMed literature search and supplemented with a review of textbook chapters. The most common signs of skin aging despite skin type are dark spots, loss of elasticity, loss of volume, and rhytides. Skin of color has many characteristics that make its aging process unique. Those of Asian, Hispanic, and African American descent have distinct facial structures. Differences in the concentration of epidermal melanin makes darkly pigmented persons more vulnerable to dyspigmentation, while a thicker and more compact dermis makes facial lines less noticeable. Ethnic skin comprises a large portion of the world population. Therefore, it is important to understand the unique structural and functional differences among ethnicities to adequately treat the signs of aging.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Women, all over 60 years of age, with characteristic features of facial aging, from left to right: Caucasian, East Asian, Latino/Hispanic, and African.
Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Women, all over 60 years of age, with characteristic features of facial aging, from left to right: Caucasian, East Asian, Latino/Hispanic, and African.
Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Women, all over 60 years of age, with characteristic features of facial aging, from left to right: Caucasian, East Asian, Latino/Hispanic, and African.
Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Women, all over 60 years of age, with characteristic features of facial aging, from left to right: Caucasian, East Asian, Latino/Hispanic, and African.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Features of facial aging in (A) Caucasian; (B) East Asian; (C) Latino/Hispanic; and (D) African American women.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Halder R, Richards G. Photoaging in patients of skin colour. In: Rigel D, Weiss R, Lim H, Dover J, editors. Photoaging. New York: Marcel Dekker; 2004. pp. 55–63.
    1. de Rigal J, Des Mazis I, Diridollou S, et al. The effect of age on skin color and color heterogeneity in four ethnic groups. Skin Res Technol. 2010;16(2):168–178. - PubMed
    1. Jones D, Brace C, Jankowiak W, et al. Sexual selection, physical attractiveness, and facial neoteny: cross-cultural evidence and implications [and comments and reply] Gurr Anthropol. 1995;36(5):723–748.
    1. McArthur L, Apatow K. Impressions of baby-faced adults. Social Cognition. 1984;2:315–342.
    1. Cunningham M. Measuring the physical in physical attractiveness: quasiexperiments on the sociobiology of female facial beauty. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1986;50:925–935.

LinkOut - more resources