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Abstract

Last year, individuals of foreign origin (foreign-born or with two foreign-born parents) constituted 25.5%, 13.8% and 18.2% of the populations in Sweden, Denmark and Norway, respectively, and over half were of ‘non-Western origin’. However, as in the United States and the UK, the growing diversity seen in Scandinavia in terms of skin of colour is not necessarily reflected in dermatology books from school. Elyas et al. analysed a total of 2916 images in seven dermatology textbooks used by 15 Scandinavian medical universities. They found only a small proportion of images of darker skin types corresponding to Fitzpatrick V-VI with dermatological conditions (approximately 3%, ranging from 1% to 6% in each book). As shown in Figure 1, images of common conditions like acne, lichen planus and psoriasis were lacking. Obviously, the skin type diversity of Scandinavian populations is not echoed in the dermatological literature used by medical students, emphasizing the need and importance of including ‘skin of color dermatology’ in other educational elements. The authors encourage improvement in showing skin type diversity in new editions of these textbooks in order to better prepare medical students to face clinical reality. Elyas A, Dalgard F, Svensson A. Dermatology textbooks in Scandinavia should prepare medical students for ethnic diversity. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol 2021; 35: e697–e698. https://doi.org/10.1111/jdv.17418.