01 / The scale
The six Fitzpatrick skin types
| Type | How it reacts to the sun | Skin |
|---|---|---|
| I | Always burns, never tans | Very fair skin, often freckled |
| II | Burns easily, tans minimally | Fair skin |
| III | Sometimes burns, tans gradually | Fair to medium skin |
| IV | Rarely burns, tans easily | Medium or olive skin |
| V | Very rarely burns | Brown skin |
| VI | Never burns | Very dark skin |
The swatches are only a guide. The scale is based on how your skin reacts to the sun, not only on its colour: two people with a similar shade can have different types.
02 / Where it comes from
A scale built to gauge sensitivity to the sun
Dermatologist Thomas B. Fitzpatrick proposed it in 1975 to work out phototherapy doses, and it remains the standard way to describe how much sun a skin can take. It sorts skin by two questions: how easily you burn and how easily you tan. Fitzpatrick, 1988 ↗
The lower the type, the sooner a burn arrives at the same UV index. That’s why the WHO recommends protection from UV 3 for everyone, and sooner and more carefully for fair skin. WHO ↗
03 / Vitamin D
Darker skin needs more time
Melanin, the pigment that gives skin its colour, absorbs some of the UVB that skin uses to make vitamin D. In the same sun, darker skin makes less per minute than fair skin.
That’s why the same number of minutes doesn’t work for everyone. The calculator and the app adjust the minutes to your skin type, as they do the burn warning. Open the calculator ↗
04 / Limits
What the scale doesn’t tell you
It’s a self-assessment with a margin of error. It works less well for darker skin, where “I burn” and “I tan” describe the reaction less accurately, and it doesn’t replace an assessment by a dermatologist. Ware et al., 2020 ↗
Your type doesn’t change when you tan: it describes how your skin reacts naturally. A tan offers little protection and isn’t a reason to stay out longer.
Follow the sources
Sources
- Fitzpatrick TB. The validity and practicality of sun-reactive skin types I through VI. Arch Dermatol 1988;124:869–871
- Clemens TL, Adams JS, Henderson SL, Holick MF. Increased skin pigment reduces the capacity of skin to synthesise vitamin D3. Lancet 1982;1:74–76
- Webb AR, Kazantzidis A, Kift RC, et al. Colour counts: sunlight and skin type as drivers of vitamin D deficiency at UK latitudes. Nutrients 2018;10:457
- Ware OR, Dawson JE, Shinohara MM, Taylor SC. Racial limitations of Fitzpatrick skin type. Cutis 2020;105:77–80
- WHO · Ultraviolet radiation
Minutes to burn come from the app’s model with the day’s UV forecast. They’re an estimate, not a safe time, and they can’t be used to decide on treatment.
Our method ↗