Health · Skin Cancer
Dr. Adewole Adamson: The Dermatologist Behind the Viral Claim That Black People ‘Do Not Need Sunscreen’
A video circulating on social media shows a dermatologist arguing that sunscreen does not prevent skin cancer in Black people, because sun exposure is not the main driver of melanoma in darker skin. Reshared with captions claiming that doctors have lied and that the sun is somehow good for Black people, the clip has reignited an old and genuinely complicated debate. Because the underlying science is easy to distort, it is worth separating what the doctor actually says from what the internet has made of it.
The physician in the video is Dr. Adewole Adamson, and he is not a fringe figure. He is a board-certified dermatologist and skin cancer specialist, a graduate of Morehouse College who earned his medical degree at Harvard Medical School through its joint programme with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and completed a Master in Public Policy at Harvard. He is now a faculty member at the University of Texas at Austin’s Dell Medical School, where he directs a melanoma clinic, holds research grants from the American Cancer Society, and serves as a deputy editor at the leading journal JAMA Dermatology. When he speaks about melanoma in skin of colour, he is speaking from the centre of the field, not its margins.
What his research actually found
Dr. Adamson’s core argument rests on a systematic review he and colleagues published in JAMA Dermatology in 2020. Sifting through hundreds of studies and analysing the small number that met their standards, covering thousands of melanoma cases in people of colour, they concluded that ultraviolet exposure does not appear to be a major risk factor for melanoma in darker skin, unlike in lighter skin where the link is well established. On that basis, they argued, the blanket recommendation that people of colour wear sunscreen specifically to prevent melanoma is not well supported by the current evidence.
He has made the point more bluntly in public. If sunlight were driving melanoma in dark-skinned people, he has argued, we would expect to see an epidemic of the disease in sub-Saharan Africa, and we do not. It is a provocative observation, and an important one. It is also, crucially, narrower than the viral clips suggest.
What the evidence shows, and what it does not
- It shows: the case that UV exposure causes melanoma in people of colour is weak, and the specific claim that sunscreen prevents melanoma in dark skin is not well supported.
- It does not show: that sunscreen is useless for Black people, or that sun protection has no value.
- Key limit: the studies reviewed were mostly of low to moderate quality, so this is a story about weak evidence, not proof that the sun is harmless.
The nuance the viral clips leave out
Here is what almost every reshared version of the video omits: Dr. Adamson still recommends sun protection for his own patients of colour. His quarrel is with overstated, one-size-fits-all messaging, not with sunscreen itself. Even where sunscreen may not reduce melanoma risk in darker skin, it still guards against real problems, including premature ageing, dark patches and uneven pigmentation such as melasma, and certain non-melanoma skin cancers. Darker skin does carry natural protection, estimated at roughly the equivalent of an SPF of 13, but that reduces sun damage rather than eliminating it.
His argument is with overstated messaging, not with sunscreen itself. Turning a careful point about evidence into “Black people do not need sunscreen” is exactly the kind of distortion he warns against.
So the honest summary of his position is not that Black people should throw away their sunscreen. It is that public health advice should be built on evidence specific to the population it is aimed at, and that pretending the melanoma-sunscreen link is as strong in dark skin as in fair skin does more harm than good when people later discover it is not true.
The risk that actually deserves the attention
Dr. Adamson’s deeper worry is that the fixation on sunscreen distracts from the form of skin cancer that most threatens people of colour. Melanoma in darker skin often appears not on sun-exposed areas but on the palms, the soles of the feet, and under the nails, a subtype called acral lentiginous melanoma that is not primarily caused by the sun. The most famous victim was the reggae legend Bob Marley, who died in 1981 at just 36 from a melanoma that began under a toenail.
This matters enormously for a Caribbean readership. Because these lesions are unexpected and easy to dismiss, and because skin cancer is wrongly assumed to be a white person’s disease, melanoma in Black patients is too often caught late, when it is far harder to treat and outcomes are worse. The practical message is therefore the opposite of complacency: check your hands, feet and nails, take any new or changing dark spot seriously, and do not assume dark skin makes you immune.
What the major medical bodies still say
It is important to note that Dr. Adamson’s view remains a minority position on the specific question of messaging, and that major organisations have not changed their guidance. The American Academy of Dermatology and the Skin Cancer Foundation continue to recommend daily broad-spectrum sunscreen of SPF 30 or higher for all skin tones, pointing to benefits beyond melanoma, including protection from premature ageing, pigmentation problems and non-melanoma skin cancers, along with regular skin checks.
Critics of the viral interpretation argue that collapsing a careful debate into “Black people do not need sunscreen” oversimplifies messy data and may discourage habits that carry other real benefits. Those sympathetic to Dr. Adamson counter that overstating sunscreen’s protective effect in darker skin erodes trust when the claim does not match what people observe. Both concerns can be true at once, which is precisely why the sound-bite version of this story is the least useful version.
For readers here at home, the takeaway is neither of the viral extremes. Sun protection still has a place, the sun is not a friend to be embraced without limit, and the single most valuable habit may be watching for the changes on palms, soles and nails that too often go unnoticed. As always, personal risk, including family history and any specific lesion, is best assessed by a qualified professional.
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