ital Pigment: Melanin
To understand disorders of pigmentation, it is important to understand the fundamentals of human skin color and its protective function. Despite the tremendous range in human skin color, all of the variations we see are due to the presence of a pigment known as melanin. Stemming from the Greek word melas, meaning black, melanin is composed of two forms: the brownish black eumelanin and the reddish yellow pheomelanin. Studies have shown that melanin production gives rise to skin color that ultimately protects the individual from both vitamin D deficiency and solar radiation. Thus, our ancestors' unique complexions evolved to be dark enough to protect DNA from ultraviolet (UV) damage and light enough to allow ultraviolet B (UVB) to penetrate for vitamin D synthesis, depending on the amount of UV rays available.2 That is why melanin is so vital to our health – too much and we riskvitamin D