7 Things Women of Color Need to Know About Skin Cancer

"The major fallacies of skin cancer is the concept that people of color are immune to skin cancer. Unfortunately, that is not true," said dermatologist Maritza I. Perez, MD. She said that melanin — produced naturally and more abundantly in skin of color — does serve as somewhat of a sun protection factor (SPF), but it is only effective in quenching the rays by 13 percent for African Americans. The rest of your protection should be supplemented with daily use of sunscreen.