Trend towards 'overestimating' skin tone - study

Almost three-quarters of people who think they have olive skin actually only have fair skin - part of a general trend to "overestimate" skin tone, says a University of Otago study.

The survey, published in this month's United States-based Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, found a "dark shift" that could put people at greater risk of skin cancer.

Among the findings were that 36 per cent of those reporting they had" fair skin" actually fell into the range for "very fair skin", while just over 77 per cent of those believing they were of medium skin colour actually belonged to the "fair skin" category.

Study participants who considered their natural skin colour to be "olive" also strongly overestimated, with 71 per cent falling into lighter categories. Of those who rated themselves as having dark skin, 58 per cent were classified as belonging to a lighter category.

Lead author Dr Tony Reeder, of the Cancer Society Social & Behavioural Research Unit at the university, said the pattern emerged after comparing 300 students' self-reported "natural, non-tanned skin colour" to objective measurements taken with a special instrument called a spectrophotometer.

"Our finding that people tended to overestimate their skin pigmentation has potentially important implications for the targeting and uptake of skin cancer health promotion programmes,"Dr Reeder said.

People overestimating their skin tone could underestimate their skin cancer risk, he said.