TikTok filter not accurate for darker skin types
Dermatologist explains how 'Aged' filter does not accurately model how Black, Asian faces change over time (1,300 words, 6 minutes)
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TikTok's popular “Aged” filter has more than five million hashtag mentions. Still, dermatologist Dr. Joyce Park explains in a video that it doesn’t accurately reflect how darker skin types age.
An article published in Yahoo! news outlet In The Know explains that Dr. Park, a dermatologist in practice in Mountain View, Calif., initially posted a video on TikTok describing the filter’s projection of aging as “fairly accurate.” On receiving a comment on that video questioning the filter’s accuracy in Black skin, Dr. Park posted a follow-up.
In that follow-up, Dr. Park addressed the comment and agreed that different ethnicities age differently; the trending filter doesn’t consider that.
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“People of different ethnicities and different skin colours simply age differently,” Dr. Park said. “People with more melanin in their skin have more sun protection and are more resistant to photoaging, like wrinkling, sagging.”
Dr. Park also noted that individuals with more melanin in their skin are susceptible to hyperpigmentation. East Asian faces are more prone to developing sagging cheeks and noticeable eye bags over time due to their skeletal structure.
In the follow-up description, Dr. Park linked to two scientific papers exploring the differences in skin aging between racial or ethnic skin types.
Bottom line: A popular TikTok video filter portrays aging in lighter-skinned users with some accuracy, but the software was not designed considering darker skin types and their different aging patterns.
From the literature on skin aging in skin of colour
Prediction and association analyses of skin phenotypes in Japanese females using genetic, environmental, and physical features
This study was conducted to characterize genetic, environmental, and biological factors affecting 16 skin features by developing models to predict personal skin characteristics.
A total of 1,472 Japanese females aged 20 to 80 years were recruited. The skin features assessed included brightness/lightness, yellowness, pigmented spots, wrinkles, resilience, moisture, barrier function, texture, and sebum amount. As genetic factors, researchers selected 74 single-nucleotide polymorphisms of genes related to skin colour, vitamin level, hormones, circulation, extracellular matrix (ECM) components and ECM-degrading enzymes, inflammation, and antioxidants. They also gathered data on ultraviolet (UV) exposure and smoking as environmental factors and age, height, and weight as physical factors.
The investigators found a linear association with age was prominent for an increase in the surface area covered with crow’s feet, an increase in the number of pigmented spots, a decrease in forehead sebum, and an increase in wrinkle parameters as measured by the VISIA® skin analysis system (Canfield Scientific, Inc.)
When they analyzed the data to predict whether subjects showed lower or higher skin measurement values in the same age groups, the investigators found that adolescent sun exposure was the most important association for skin spots, such as lentigines and wrinkles.
The authors write that the models they have developed should help predict the skin characteristics of individuals and their age-related changes.
Skin aging exposome in skin of colour populations: Review of the literature
This paper summarizes the existing literature on skin aging exposome—the cumulative measure of environmental influences and associated biologic responses throughout life—in skin of colour populations.
The authors searched the PubMed and Google Scholar databases for peer-reviewed studies in skin of colour populations that involved one or more skin aging exposome factors.
They identified factors that are preventable or modifiable by individuals in their own lives, such as applying broad-spectrum sunscreens with visible light protection, improving nutrition, and smoking cessation. Researchers also identified factors such as air pollution that require more complex solutions.
Their literature search revealed a lack of references on skin aging exposome factors in skin of colour populations.
Modelling of global skin aging indices among Caucasian and Asian women
Researchers developed two Global Skin Aging Indices specifically designed to model the overall skin aging process of Caucasian and Asian women.
The researchers recruited 240 Asian women and 129 Caucasian women and measured parameters in each related to wrinkles, sagging, elasticity, and skin tone.
They defined the global skin aging index as the normalized projection on the first principal component of a principal component analysis of the skin measurements. Then, they performed linear regressions between the index and age of both panels.
Investigators found that the first principal component carries around 50% of the initial variance for both indices. Both Global Skin Aging Indices were statistically correlated with age.
Researchers conclude that their proposed indices are good indicators of the overall aging process for Caucasian and Asian women and offer new approaches to assess anti-aging product efficacy.
Treatment of mild-to-moderate facial cutaneous aging using a combination peel containing 6% trichloroacetic acid and 12% lactic acid
The authors of this paper write that chemical peeling treats facial cutaneous aging and may avoid risks in patients with darker skin types, sensitive skin, limited finances, or concern for side effects of other resurfacing techniques.
This study assessed the tolerability and improvement of photoaging using a combination peel containing 6% trichloroacetic acid and 12% lactic acid to treat mild-to-moderate signs of facial photoaging.
Researchers treated 32 female subjects with mild-to-moderate signs of facial aging and Fitzpatrick Skin Types I-V with three monthly sessions of the combination peel. After three treatments, investigators observed statistically significant improvements in clarity, brightness, redness, pigmentation, fine lines, tactile and visual roughness, and overall appearance scores.
Subjective improvements in photoaging parameters varied from 53% (fine lines) to 91% (clarity/brightness).
The authors conclude this procedure is safe and effective at treating cutaneous aging for all skin types studied and a viable option for patients who wish to avoid other resurfacing techniques.
VIDEO: Best and worst anti-aging products: Skin of colour, Black or Brown skin
Ealing, U.K.-based Vanita Rattan, MBBS, reviews a range of anti-aging products in the context of darker skin types.
At the intersection of skin and society
National Museums Scotland (NMS) has started the process of returning a 37-foot memorial pole to the Nisga’a Nation indigenous community in Canada, according to a press release from the U.K. Museums Association.
The hand-carved red cedar pole had been displayed at Edinburgh’s National Museum of Scotland since 1930. It is set to complete its journey home late in Sept. 2023 and be available for public view in Oct. 2023.
According to the release, the transfer was formally agreed on in Dec. 2022 and follows a “year-long discussion and close collaboration” between the Nisg̱a’a Nation and NMS.
The pole will be taken to Terrace, B.C., then driven in a family procession to Lax̱g̱alts’ap, a Nisg̱a’a village in the Nass Valley. It will be housed there at Hli G̱oothl Wilp-Adoḵshl Nisg̱a’a—the Nisga’a Museum.
NMS is using the term “rematriation” to refer to the return. It says this “reframes the concept of ‘repatriation’ by grounding the process of recovering belongings in Indigenous law—and is more closely in alignment with Nisga’a matrilineal society.”
The pole belongs to the House of Ni’isjoohl from the G̱anada (frog clan) in the Nisg̱a’a Nation. In 1860, House of Ni’isjoohl Matriarch Joanna Moody commissioned it to be carved by the Nisg̱a’a master carver Oyee to honour her family member Ts’awit, who was next in line to be chief.
Sim’oogit Ni’isjoohl (Chief Earl Stephens) of the Nisga’a Nation said: “In Nisg̱a’a culture, we believe that this pole is alive with the spirit of our ancestors. After nearly 100 years, we are finally able to bring our dear relative home to rest on Nisg̱a’a lands. It means so much for us to have the Ni’isjoohl memorial pole returned to us so that we can connect our family, nation and future generations with our living history.”
This week
September is Pain Awareness Month
Sept. 12 to 18 is National Eczema Week in the U.K.
Sept. 17 is World Patient Safety Day
Something to think about in the week ahead. . .
— Benjamin E. Mays, U.S. educator [1895 to 1984]
Next week
Skin Spectrum Weekly covers work by an international team of researchers from Kenya, the U.S., and Switzerland to develop a machine-learning-supported framework for assessing the representation of skin of colour in medical educational materials.
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