Background: Remittend spectrophotometry is non invasive investigation method, which is not yet routinely used in dermatological clinical practice. In this short study we evaluated possibilities of its use in a measurement of human skin natural pigmentation intensity. Material and methods: During winter and spring months we performed evaluation of skin phototype by means of adopted questionnaire method followed by remittend spectrophometry measurement of non sun-exposed skin of buttocks in 64 healthy volunteers. The spectrophotometry measurement yielded a continual curve of dependency of electromagnetic radiation in range of 400-950 nm remittence on its wave length. We performed transversal analysis and compared measurement results with skin phototype of volunteers obtained by questionnaire. Results: Calculation of average score for every questionnaire question used in the tested group with the same skin phototype we found a continual increase of this score from a skin phototype I to a skin phototype IV in all questions of the questionnaire. By a comparison of spectrophotometric curves we found out measurable differences in individuals of different skin phototype. The differences between individual skin phototypes correspond to known biophysical properties of the skin. Conclusion: The used questionnaire method is suitable for differentiation of Caucasians in 4 known group according to a skin phototype. The remittend spectrophotometry is a rapid non-invasive investigation method which offers objective results of skin color measurement including the intensity of its natural pigmentation.

        Key words: remittend spectrophotometry - natural pigmentation - phototype - skin color