The Fitzpatrick scale was initially developed on the basis of skin color, but later it was altered to be based on the patient's reports of how their skin responds to the sun.
The following list shows the six categories of the Fitzpatrick scale in relation to the 36 categories of the older von Luschan scale (in parenthesis):
- Type I (scores 0–6) always burns, never tans (palest; freckles)
- Type II (scores 7–13) usually burns, tans minimally (light colored but darker than fair)
- Type III (scores 14–20) sometimes mild burn, tans uniformly (golden honey or olive)
- Type IV (scores 21–27) burns minimally, always tans well (moderate brown)
- Type V (scores 28–34) very rarely burns, tans very easily (dark brown)
- Type VI (scores 35–36) never burns (deeply pigmented dark brown to darkest brown)
