Freckles

[Ariets]

Freckles are small tan spots of melanin on the exposed skin or membrane of people with fair complexions, though rarely people of African descent get them.
Having freckles is genetic and is related to the presence of the melanocortin-1 receptor MC1R gene variant, which is dominant. Freckling can also be triggered by long exposure to sunlight, such as suntanning. When the sun's rays penetrate the skin, they activate melanocytes which can cause freckles to become darker and more numerous, although the distribution of melanin is not the same. Fair hair such as blonde, or more commonly red hair, are usually common with the genetic factor of freckles, but none so much as fair or pale skin.
Freckles are predominantly found on the face, although they may appear on any skin exposed to the sun. Freckles are rare on infants, and more common on children before puberty; they are less common on adults.
Children who do not produce enough melanin to protect their skin against harmful rays from the sun develop temporary freckles associated with childhood that usually go away upon puberty, once more melanin is produced. People with the fairest skin often do not produce enough melanin, and so freckles are present after puberty and into adulthood, indicating that individual as a genetic carrier for freckles.
Upon exposure to the sun, freckles will reappear if they have been altered with creams or lasers and not protected from the sun, but do however fade with age in some cases. Freckles are not a skin disorder. People with a predisposition to freckles may be especially susceptible to sunburn and skin cancer, and should therefore take extra care to protect themselves in the sun with a daily sunblock of at least 15 SPF.
In dermatology, the synonym ephelides is used to designate freckles.

Source: Freckle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Whats your opinion on freckles? My friend think its prehaps come from Cromagnoid/Mediterranid mixture? WHo knows it really..

Im in Fitzpatrick phototype scale I, Im nasty Freckled person, who's beside me here also freckled?

[Occidentian]

Originally Posted by Ariets

Source: Freckle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Whats your opinion on freckles? My friend think its prehaps come from Cromagnoid/Mediterranid mixture? WHo knows it really..

Im in Fitzpatrick phototype scale I, Im nasty Freckled person, who's beside me here also freckled?

I am highly confused on it's origins, although I do see entirely different 'freckling' patters on Eastern Europeans versus west (them having variant sizes, often rather large, and the west having smaller ones all over, to varying degrees.) I haven't once seen a non-slav with large freckles bordering on birthmark size.

[Exeter]

Could you show pictures of individuals with these different kind of freckles?

Originally Posted by Occidentian

I am highly confused on it's origins, although I do see entirely different 'freckling' patters on Eastern Europeans versus west (them having variant sizes, often rather large, and the west having smaller ones all over, to varying degrees.) I haven't once seen a non-slav with large freckles bordering on birthmark size.

[Ariets]

Originally Posted by Occidentian

I am highly confused on it's origins, although I do see entirely different 'freckling' patters on Eastern Europeans versus west (them having variant sizes, often rather large, and the west having smaller ones all over, to varying degrees.) I haven't once seen a non-slav with large freckles bordering on birthmark size.

???

[Susi]

The CM thing makes a little sense... maybe?

[Milesian]

From my own personal observations - Germanics often seem to have a good ability to tan an attractive dark brown, even with their blonde hair.
Conversely, British and Irish people, incl those with dark hair, seem highly suspectible to sunburn and freckling.

I haven't seen many Slavs so I cant comment on them.

[Outrune]

Originally Posted by Occidentian

I am highly confused on it's origins, although I do see entirely different 'freckling' patters on Eastern Europeans versus west (them having variant sizes, often rather large, and the west having smaller ones all over, to varying degrees.) I haven't once seen a non-slav with large freckles bordering on birthmark size.

One of my friends is half Polish, half English and has very dark hair and eyes (I assume was from the Pole side) and his face was covered in dark freckles during his childhood. They've lightened a good deal since as he's grown older however.

He was classified on skadi as pred. Pontid - so perhaps mediterannid could contribute towards freckling? I've no idea to be honest though.

[Tuurikerttu]

Originally Posted by Milesian

From my own personal observations - Germanics often seem to have a good ability to tan an attractive dark brown, even with their blonde hair.
Conversely, British and Irish people, incl those with dark hair, seem highly suspectible to sunburn and freckling.

I haven't seen many Slavs so I cant comment on them.

I once met a half English - half Italian guy who had typical Italian pigment and looked Italian, yet he burned his skin like golden blonde Englishman. That was somewhat weird methinks.

As how how easily people in the British isles burn their skin, I believe that's also because of bad sun bathing habits too. What I have seen them in the mediterraean and also other places with plenty of sun and uv radiation, they are careless with sun lotions and remain in the sun even long after their skin is burned, and still go to the sun with no clothes covering their scaling skin with 1-2 grades burns. This applies to some German tourists too I have spotted. Even more horribly I have seen how in some families also little children have been exposed to the sun and severe sunburns! But then, my observations are mostly from a long time ago, so possibly the sun bathing habits have changed now.

I have a skin that tans easily and burns only if I really stupidly expose my yet untanned skin to the sun for a whole day (summer days are really long here up north) so that the sun also reflects from the water, without wearing any sun lotions. I have once burned an area of a size of my palm on my shoulder, and that was enough, I will never want to have sunburns again And no, I don't freckle easily, I have had some though.

As for Finns in general, freckles are not as common as non-freckled skin. Like everywhere else, golden- and red haired people and other with different grades of rufosity seem to have those more often than others.

[Monolith]

Freckles are not so common in my country, except perhaps in northern regions, but even there their frequency is low. I've met four people from my country that had freckles so far, so IMO, their frequency is pretty low.
I also never met a Dinaroid that had freckles.

[Jrpkg]

I have pale skin and burn easily. When I was younger, I had blond hair, but it changed to some kind of light-brown.

I got really bad sunburn on my upper back one summer. I have lots of freckles there now. It appears I only have freckles on the parts of my body that are exposed to the sun. My arms are another example as I always wear short sleeve T-shirts. There are no freckles around my crotch area. Sunlight doesn’t ever get exposed there.

In studies of twins, including pairs of identical twins and pairs of fraternal (nonidentical) twins, it has been found that among identical twin pairs, there was a striking similarity in the total number of freckles found on each person. Such similarities were considerably less common in fraternal twins. This clearly confirms that the occurrence of freckles is influenced by genetic factors. In fact, the variations in freckle counts appear to be due largely to heredity.

Freckles appear to be some kind of genetic adaptation for pale skinned people.

I can only assume Scandinavians have freckles. Can anyone confirm this?

[Buery]

An interesting individual:

Uyghur girl with freckles

[meadhbh]

I tan and have freckles both, they just get dark along with the rest of my skin tone. The size difference is interesting, I've never seen any large freckles myself, so there may be a valid point to that.

[Ariets]

[quote=Milesian;123072
I haven't seen many Slavs so I cant comment on them.[/quote]
I guess we Slavs are not very freckled, beside me and my father's family (+some "reds")