PARIS – L’Oréal Act for Dermatology, the 20 million euro, five-year program setting out to democratize skin health access, is launching.
Led by the group’s Dermatological Beauty Division, or LDB, it is to support the 2.1 billion people around the globe who live with skin disease, which can impact their lives due to stigmatization.
As part of the Act program, L’Oréal is partnering with the WHO Foundation to help the World Health Organization’s aim to fight common skin diseases, as well as ailments caused by overlooked tropical diseases, and aid in building awareness of the impact of skin diseases around the world.
“We started this fund because there is a crisis in dermatology,” said Myriam Cohen-Welgryn, president of L’Oréal Dermatological Beauty. “There is a big tension in access to skin health. It is a critical issue.”
L’Oréal believes it can positively contribute to the dermatological beauty ecosystem starting – as the group always does – with science.
So LDB initiated a study launched in October 2024 that spans 194 countries, the first of its kind, in partnership with the International League of Dermatological Societies, or ILDS. Called the Global Access to Skin Health Observatory, its preliminary findings show that in more than one-third of countries there is one dermatologist or fewer for every 100,000 people. That means at least 3.5 billion people have highly limited access to skin health services.
“Roughly speaking, it’s considered that you need a minimum of four [per 10,000] to allow the right access to derms,” said Cohen-Welgryn. “We believe that access to skin health should be a right, because health is a right.”
The ongoing study delves not only into the global distribution of dermatologists, but also patient barriers to access dermatologic care by country and access to “surrogate” skin health providers. The results are expected to be published this year.
“We are facing a crisis with access to healthcare, especially for people with skin diseases,” said Esther Freeman, director of global health dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, vice chair of the ILDS’ International Foundation for Dermatology and Skin Observatory Lead Investigator, in a statement. “A shortage of dermatologists and frontline healthcare workers trained in skin conditions has led to dermatological ‘deserts,’ leaving millions of people without diagnosis or treatment for their skin disease. This leads to severe or even life-threatening consequences.”
In the U.S., states including Montana, Nevada and New Mexico have less than 0.5 dermatologists per 10,000 residences, making them among the derm “deserts.”
“We face an urgent call to action: to empower and equip frontline healthcare workers, collaborate with governments to prioritize skin health on the public policy agenda and champion locally sourced best practices globally,” said Freeman.
L’Oréal’s fund is built on four pillars.
“One is knowledge, because knowledge is everything,” said Cohen-Welgryn. “Second is raising the awareness of the crisis to influence or to engage health institutions to drive policies that will help the access to skin health.
“Third is empowering through education,” she continued. “And fourth is we want to contribute to scaling up the things that work.”
Among specific short-term focuses is to have dermatologists in all regions of the world, including underprivileged regions.
“What we did is open access to science,” said Cohen-Welgryn, referring to a part of the program that has earmarked 2 million euros to facilitate open access to publications for low- to middle-income countries. “It’s the first act that is allowing to increase education by merely accessing the basic science on dermatology.”
L’Oréal plans to roll out winning projects from the International Awards for Social Responsibility in Dermatology, which the group and ILDS launched in 2011. L’Oréal considers this as investing in a “do tank,” rather than a “think tank.”
L’Oréal is eager to contribute to driving understanding about the large impact climate change is having on skin and knowledge on skin of color.
“We know that there is still a lot to learn,” said Cohen-Welgryn. “There are specificities depending on the level of skin’s pigmentation.”
Other issues will be tackled, too. The partnership between LDB and the WHO Foundation eill enable the first surveillance and measure of skin health around the world, including everyday diseases such as acne, atopic dermatitis, psoriasis and vitiligo, plus skin-related tropical diseases.
“A shortage of trained specialists has added to the burden experienced by people across the world – one this project seeks to address through dermatological training, health worker education and awareness-raising, among others,” said Anil Soni, chief executive officer of the WHO Foundation, in the statement.
The partnership with the WHO Foundation is taking place at an essential moment, when skin health has growing recognition on the global stage, according to L’Oréal. It is expected that a resolution on skin diseases as a global public health priority will be discussed at the 78th World Health Assembly, in late May.
“We believe skin health should be a right and not a privilege,” said Cohen-Welgryn. “Health starts with your skin, because skin is a barrier to pathogens.”
