Von Luschan's chromatic scale is a method of classifying skin color. It is also called the von Luschan scale or von Luschan's scale. It is named after its inventor, Felix von Luschan. The equipment consists of 36 opaque glass tiles which were compared to the subject's skin, ideally in a place which would not be exposed to the sun (such as under the arm). The von Luschan scale was used to establish racial classifications of entire cognate populations according to skin color.
The von Luschan scale was used extensively throughout the first half of the 20th century in race studies and anthropometry. However, it was considered problematic, even by its practitioners, because it was very inconsistent. In many instances, different investigators would give different readings of the same person.
The von Luschan scale was largely abandoned by the early 1950s, replaced instead by methods utilizing reflectance spectrophotometry.
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A less finely tiered scale of six skin types, called the Fitzpatrick scale, was introduced in 1975 by Harvard dermatologist Thomas B. Fitzpatrick to describe the sun tanning behaviour of various skin types, without any racial classification connotations, as follows:[1]
| Type | von Luschan scale | Also called |
|---|---|---|
| I | 1–5 | Very light or white, "Celtic" type[2] |
| II | 6–10 | Light or light-skinned European[2] |
| III | 11–15 | Light intermediate, or dark-skinned European[2] |
| IV | 16–21 | Dark intermediate, also "Mediterranean" or "olive skin"[2] |
| V | 22–28 | Dark or "brown" type |
| VI | 29–36 | Very dark or "black" type |