Can someone develop sun allergy at any time in their life?
It can occur at any time in someone’s life, but typically it occurs in people in their 20s and their 30s. And it can occur in people of all skin types. So not only Caucasians, but also Asians, Latinos and black people can develop photosensitivity. Is sun allergy ever a sign of an underlying condition? There have been some reports of an association with lupus and with thyroid problems, but those are exceptions rather than the rule. We do evaluate patients for those conditions on a routine basis. We ask them questions and take some blood tests, if necessary. But the vast majority of patients are perfectly healthy otherwise. What kind of ultraviolet light causes the reaction? It’s usually UVB light, but it could be UVA also. So it varies from person to person and one would have to test for it. The testing is usually conducted in a clinic setting. We can use light sources that emit predominantly UVB or light sources that emit predominantly UVA to see which one would induce the lesion. That
