Skin Analysis and Skin Types
Type versus condition
Skin type is genetic and stable - the baseline level of sebum activity: normal, dry, oily, combination, or sensitive. Skin condition is temporary and treatable: dehydration, sensitization, hyperpigmentation, acne, aging, sun damage. The exam repeatedly separates these. A dry client can be dehydrated; dehydration is a lack of water, dryness is a lack of oil.
The analysis sequence
- Consultation and history - medications, allergies, pregnancy, recent peels, retinoids, isotretinoin, surgeries, product routine.
- Visual assessment in good light: pore size, shine, flaking, redness, lesions, asymmetry.
- Palpation and magnification - magnifying lamp for texture and follicles.
- Wood's lamp in a dark room after the eyes adapt (about a minute).
- Documentation and a treatment plan; any suspicious lesion goes to a physician, not to a treatment room.
Wood's lamp readings
- Blue-white: normal, well-hydrated, thickened corneum.
- Yellow to yellow-green: sebum, oily areas.
- Light violet: dehydration.
- Brown: pigmentation, photoaging.
- Coral-red to pink: Cutibacterium acnes fluorescence.
- Yellow-green or bright white in patches: fungal or bacterial involvement - refer.
Fitzpatrick scale
Types I–VI rate UV response: I always burns, never tans; II usually burns; III sometimes burns, gradually tans; IV rarely burns, tans easily; V rarely burns, tans deeply; VI never burns, deeply pigmented. Higher types carry greater risk of post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation after waxing, peels, and extractions - a core treatment-planning fact.
Worked example
A client has shine across the forehead, nose, and chin, tightness and visible flaking on the cheeks, and violet fluorescence under Wood's lamp. Reasoning: the T-zone shows oil, but the cheeks show dehydration, not dryness - there is flaking without the dull, lacking-oil quality of true dry skin. The plan is a combination-type protocol with humectants and a lighter moisturizer, not a heavy occlusive cream.
Traps
Calling dehydration a skin type; diagnosing acne or rosacea (only describing and referring); using Wood's lamp on a client who just cleansed, which alters readings; ignoring medications that thin or photosensitize the skin; skipping the Fitzpatrick assessment before waxing or exfoliation.