ABSTRACT
References 740
The approximately 3.5 billion nonwhite people in India, China, northeast and southeast
Asia, the Middle East, Spain, Central and South America, and the black population of
African countries, the United States, and elsewhere represent the majority of the
world’s population. Racial differences in skin pathophysiology have been well documen-
ted (1,2). The high risk of pigmentary alterations and scarring following any procedure
that produces inflammation of the skin continues to influence physicians to exercise
caution with this group of patients. This caution also applies to laser therapy. Even with
the highly selective characteristic of current laser therapy, when results are expected to
be similar between the races, they are not. Both genetic background and environmental
factors are involved in these differences.
