Importance of Human Skin Pigmentations - Essay Example

Importance of Human Skin Pigmentations Skin pigmentation is very important to humans as it protects them against the dangers of environmental factors such as ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Human beings especially the ones living in Africa have a dark pigmentation called melanin that prevent absorb and scatter the UVR from the sun and prevent any reaction with the human body cells (Herrling, Thomas, Katinka, Jung and Jürgen 2008:1431). In other areas such as the Western countries, human beings have a lighter skin with less pigmentation as their continent is colder than the African continent.

Skin pigmentation is very important due to its functions such as guarding the skin against ultraviolet radiations and synthesis of vitamin D. There are many factors that determine the amount of the UVR that people get exposed to such as the solar radiation reaching the earth service, pollution, and cloud cover. The rays are helpful to human beings, but too much of them can cause skin problems such as skin cancer. The presence of the skin pigment guards the cells underneath from destruction by the ultraviolet rays, which can be disastrous depending on the intensity (Brenner, Michaela and Vincent 2008:360) Hearing.

Light-skinned people have higher chances of suffering from cancer as compared to the dark-skinned people when exposed to intense solar radiation (Yamaguchi, Yuji, Michaela and Vincent 2007:27558). The amount of skin pigmentation determines the amount of the UVR that reaches the body cells causing the damage. Light colored people have higher chances of contracting skin cancer and other skin problems such as aging. The other importance of the skin pigmentation is the synthesis of vitamin D on the surface of the skin through exposure to the UVB rays from the sun (Jablonski, Nina and George 2012:786).

UVB is the short wave ultraviolet rays from the sun that are less dangerous than the short wavelength Ultraviolet rays known as the UVA. A UVB ray is absorbed at the surface of the skin and their intensity depends on the geographical area, time, and season. Vitamin D is responsible for absorption of calcium in our bodies for strong bones and teeth. Insufficient vitamin D causes brittle bones and rickets and people who have less exposure to the UVB rays from the sun must take vitamin D supplement.

The skin is the largest organ and very important for the survival of human beings. Its protective nature to the other body organs and its pigmentation matters a lot in our health. Melanin is therefore very crucial for healthy individuals and where it lacks such as the people with albinism, medical attention is mandatory to prevent skin disorders and cancers. Skin pigmentation is very important in human bodies especially those living in hot regions such as the African continent. The main functions of melanin are the absorption of the ultraviolet rays from the sun that has a damaging effect by causing diseases such as the skin cancer.

Light-skinned people have a problem in coping with the intense radiations from the sun as it causes a lot of damage to their skins. Inadequate melanin cannot absorb all the UVR rays from the sun especially when it is very hot leading to adverse effects such as premature aging, cancers, and vitamin D deficiency. Works Cited Brenner, Michaela, and Vincent J. Hearing 2008 The Protective Role of Melanin Against UV Damage in Human Skin. Photochemistry and photobiology 84 (3):539-549. Herrling, Thomas, Katinka Jung, and Jürgen Fuchs 2008The role of melanin as protector against free radicals in skin and its role as free radical indicator in hair.

Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy 69 (5):1429-1435. Jablonski, Nina G., and George Chaplin 2012 Human skin pigmentation, migration and disease susceptibility. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 367 (1590):785-792. Yamaguchi, Yuji, Michaela Brenner, and Vincent J. Hearing 2007 The regulation of skin pigmentation. Journal of biological chemistry 282 (38): 27557-27561.