Sensitivity to UV exposure

Genetics and medication may play a role

Introduction

Everyone is different when it comes to UV exposure. Sensitivity varies as a function of genetics, phenotype (e.g skin type), medication, age, history of prior sunburn, etc. For instance, many African-Americans have a very high tolerance to UV. However, after a diagnosis of lupus, sensitivity to UV becomes extremely high, requiring sensitive awareness of UV at low levels.

Even people with the same skin type, no specific diagnosis, not taking photosensitizing medication often have large differences in sensitivity to UV exposure.

The Shade® app addresses this problem

Our app was designed to work with this issue and provide individual autonomy, by recommending UV limits from the clinical literature while enabling you to fine-tune how much UV exposure they would like to manage in a given day. Below we show two screenshots of our mobile app available on both iOS and Android showing the guidance regarding UV exposure as well as the screen where you can change your “ UV limit”, a target UV diet you would like to avoid.

1. Onboarding screen: select a clinically validated limit for UV exposure
In the app: adjust the limit for UV exposure