pigmentation

Introduction

Deposition of pigment in tissue. Normal pigmentation of the skin is from melanocytes.

Pathology

disorders of pigmentation include:

• hyperpigmentation
• hypopigmentation

Genetics

• hair, eye & skin pigmentation are among the most visible examples of human phenotypic variation, with a broad normal range that is subject to substantial geographic stratification
• in the case of skin, individuals tend to have lighter pigmentation with increasing distance from the equator
• by contrast, the majority of variation in human eye & hair color is found among individuals of European ancestry, with most other human populations fixed for brown eyes & black hair
• genetic variations in ASIP are associated with variation in skin/hair/eye pigmentation type 9

Additional terms

• hyperpigmentation
• hypopigmentation
• pigment

Database

• OMIM: https://mirror.omim.org/entry/611742