Sensitive Skin

This chapter discusses the best practice of proactive clinical evaluation when approaching aesthetic treatments in skin of color, including those with Fitzpatrick skin types IV-VI. Cosmetic intolerance in this population has been attributed to core cutaneous factors, such as transepidermal water loss (TEWL), and special considerations, such as aging, xerosis, atopy, and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. This chapter examines the intrinsic and extrinsic influences of each issue and concludes with a practical approach to aesthetic procedures in this population. Some aesthetic procedures that the chapter includes strategies to avoid intolerance, such as chemical peels, lasers, and hypertrophic scarring, to name a few. Sensitive skin is becoming increasingly recognized in skin of color. Therefore, management, as it relates to aesthetic procedures, requires a careful, individualized evaluation and plan of care.