Malassezia is a skin yeast. Light skinned people are sometimes diagnosed because in the summer white spots show up on affected skin. These spots are white because they fail to tan, and this is due to the presence of the yeast.

The linked article claims that the yeast make azelaic acid which inhibits melanin. However if this were truly the mechanism, the afflicated spots would become sunburned as is the case for vitiligo skin.

I propose that these spots do not tan because the yeast themselves make melanin and serve as a living sunscreen.

A cultivated Malassezia infection could protect the light skinned among us from sunburn without the need for messy creams. A more important application would be for xeroderma pigmentosum - these people really cannot get any sun at all or they will develop many skin cancers. With some malassezia fighting for them, XP kids might get to go out now and then.
-- bungston, Oct 05 2009

Malassezia overview http://www.skinther.../fp/2006/2.2/2.html
Azleic acid, or so they claim. [bungston, Oct 05 2009]

Malssezia make melanin, or something very like melanin. http://www.ncbi.nlm...rticles/PMC1233999/
Probably it is _better_ than melanin! [bungston, Dec 04 2009]

I'd do some real research before I gave this a try. If the prevailing theory is correct then the cancer consequences could be quite, quite severe.
-- WcW, Oct 06 2009


The name of this idea made me think it was authored by [beanangel].
-- DrWorm, Oct 06 2009


/cancer consequences/

bah. Loads of people are covered with this yeast and it causes no harm.

beanangel - yes the title and even the concept does sound like his sort of deal. I do not think he writes annos on ideas by others, though.
-- bungston, Oct 06 2009


more like shitangel.
-- daseva, Oct 06 2009


//more like shitangel. — daseva, Oct 06 2009 //

Uh, WTF?
-- Custardguts, Oct 06 2009


Shy tang hell - Lucky we are all totally individual and seperate so there are no higher level group consciousness interactions to feel guilty for.
-- wjt, Oct 06 2009


ok, let me go over what I was saying: skin that is peeling or otherwise exfoliated exposes the user to added danger fron sunburn due to removing the external layer of dead cells, and also because rapidly dividing cells, exposed to carcinogens, are more likely to be come cancerous. People with recovering sunburns or other skin conditions should make an extra effort to avoid exposure.
-- WcW, Oct 06 2009


Surely if //the yeast themselves make melanin and serve as a living sunscreen// the affected patches would appear dark (due to the yeast's melanin), not light.
-- spidermother, Oct 10 2009


I'd be surprised if Malassezia makes melanin; as far as I know, yeast (S. cerevisiae) doesn't. You could check the genomes of other sequenced fungi easily. And, as Spidermother points out, if it *did* make melanin, it'd be black.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 10 2009


I think some sponges and other marine organisms make sunscreens to protect themselves from UV. You simply need a portable system which maintains a flow of seawater over all exposed skin, supporting a healthy protective covering of smallish sponges.
-- spidermother, Oct 10 2009


I thought this would be a political statement, bringing the Constitution out into the light.
-- dentworth, Oct 10 2009


Max I am sorry you had to wait 2 months to be surprised by additional proof about the melanin. Linked find scientifical article about this.
-- bungston, Dec 04 2009


seems like a pretty sound idea then. I'm not sure if I want to support that much yeast on my skin, would I need constant sugar baths?
-- WcW, Dec 05 2009


Well, I'll be a monkey's descendent.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Dec 05 2009



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