Currently submitted to: JMIR Dermatology
Date Submitted: Jul 9, 2026
Open Peer Review Period: Jul 14, 2026 - Sep 8, 2026
(currently open for review)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Skin of Color Representation on Consumer Health Websites
ABSTRACT
Background:
Chronic inflammatory skin conditions like psoriasis vary in presentation by skin tone however many educational resources lack images and descriptions of skin of color (SOC).
Objective:
To evaluate the highest trafficked health websites for inclusivity of psoriasis in SOC images and language
Methods:
Using SEMrush “Traffic & Market Trends” data from November 2025, the 10 highest-traffic global consumer health websites were audited by two reviewers for SOC representation in psoriasis-related content: NIH, Cleveland Clinic, Healthline, Mayo Clinic, WebMD, Ameli, Harvard, Medical News Today, AARP, and Drugs.com
Results:
Photographic representation of SOC was limited across all sites and rarely paired with inclusive language
Conclusions:
SOC-specific imagery language is inconsistently included and often minimal in consumer based websites
Citation
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