Nevocytic nevi and skin complexion.

There exists a large body of evidence that the occurrence of nevocytic nevi is closely related to skin complexion. Nevi are more frequent in Caucasians with a light skin than in those with a dark phenotype. In Orientals and Negroids nevocytic nevi are uncommon. Within a black population subjects with a relatively light complexion have greater total counts than those with a very dark skin. It is concluded that literature data dealing with mole proneness in relation to skin complexion strongly point to an association of high nevus counts with light complexion. This applies to differences between racial groups as well as to differences between complexion phenotypes within a given racial group.