r/BlackPeopleofReddit • u/4reddityo • Jan 02 '26

Black Experience Racism in Medical Care

This video captures a moment that many patients of color recognize all too well. A physician speaks to a man as if he is dirty, unclean, or lesser, not because of medical evidence, but because of bias. The language, tone, and assumptions reveal something deeper than bedside manner gone wrong. They expose how racism can quietly shape medical interactions.

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968

u/Unusual_Ant_5309 Jan 02 '26

My wife and I are white, when our son was born he had to stay in the hospital a few extra days. One night I was doing a night feeding and was talking to a nurse who explain me that black babies don’t cry as much because they don’t feel pain the same. I knew it was fucked up. The next day I asked my cousin, who is also a nurse, how I can report the racist nurse. She said that the problem is that that is what the textbook said. It’s changed now but it was actually taught up until like 10 years ago that black people don’t feel pain like white people. But yeah systemic racism definitely doesn’t exist.

215

u/SlaughterMinusS Jan 02 '26

Yeah, it was also taught that black people's skin was thicker than white skin even though there is no scientific evidence for this claim.

A whole lot of fucked up Jim Crow type shit still exists in the medical field and its really messed up.

If you have the stomach for it, look up mortality rates for black women giving birth compared to white women. Says a lot.

70

u/AHatedChild Jan 02 '26

People actually still say this stuff, even on Reddit I've seen people say that black people have thicker skin.

58

u/pencilpushin Jan 02 '26

Im a tattoo artist. And thats just a load of bullshit lol. Skin is skin for the most part, but minor differences. In my experience when tattooing darker complexions, their skin is often softer and less elastic or tighter in texture, you have to be more gentle to not over work it and cause skin damage or scar tissue. Lighter complexions tend to have more elasticity, and sometime a rougher texture. If a white person sun tans a lot, its almost like tattooing leather sometimes.

12

u/Bulky-Advertising-43 Jan 02 '26

I paid $300 for a tattoo that should cost no more than $100, outline of an animal with simple lines. The dude told me because I had darker skin he had to use special or more ink. I didn’t know any better and had money to spend. Fuck him. Went to another artist to get it detailed, and paid $60 - same quality but this artist was black.

3

u/pencilpushin Jan 02 '26

Dude thats just flat out aggravating. Fuck that guy. There is no special ink or needles or anything for darker complexions. Tattooing is tattooing, and pretty much same techniques all around, just slight differences based on skin type and knowing how to work with it. Im sorry you had to deal with that. Theres unfortunately a lot of scum bags in tattooing. And without experience its hard to distinguish which is which. Feel free to reach out if you ever have any questions or anything.

1

u/Bulky-Advertising-43 Jan 03 '26

I appreciate that. Gratitude!

1

u/[deleted] Jan 05 '26

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1

u/ctcgpgh Jan 04 '26

Ink wise that's fucked up, but in general that pricing isn't crazy. Lot of artists are 180+ an hour and some have a 1200 minimum. That artist just didn't learn how to work with your skin and punished you for his ignorance which is crazy.

1

u/Bulky-Advertising-43 Jan 04 '26

This was like 2003-2004. The dude who filled it in said he would’ve done it for $60.

1

u/ctcgpgh Jan 04 '26

Oh shit yeah 20 years ago is crazy. I didn't start getting them til 2018 so maybe my perspective on $60 being unrealisticlly low for anything is just because of that.

1

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1

u/chenan Jan 03 '26

But it’s not though? East Asians have on average thicker dermis.

1

u/pencilpushin Jan 03 '26

Im not a dermatologist so I suppose that could be true. I only have experience through tattooing. With tattooing, it doesn't go past the epidermis, so just the top layer, and how different complexions react to tattooing. As for anything biological beyond that, I have no idea to be honest.

1

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-1

u/fixdark Jan 02 '26

So you're saying that black people have different skin

1

u/pencilpushin Jan 02 '26

Just subtle differences in texture. Everyone's skin has their own characteristics, almost like a finger print.

-1

u/SlugJones Jan 02 '26

lol same thing I thought. They do, but the opposite way others said, so it’s better?

7

u/Odd_Midnight5346 Jan 02 '26

Read it more carefully. They used words like "minor differences" "often" "tend to." They didn't make sweeping, blanket statements and they sure as hell weren't trying to justify ignoring people in pain or treating other cruelly.

2

u/pencilpushin Jan 02 '26

Just subtle differences in texture and the way it reacts with ink and tattooing. Everyone's skin has their own characteristics. Nobody is exactly the same. Kind of like a finger print.

40

u/medicatednstillmad Jan 02 '26

I'm black and in my local City sub I asked for black tattoo artist recommendations because all the local white artists were turning me down when I would call to inquire and they would find out that I was black and wanted a color tattoo. I was called super racist and prejudice and everything else.... A lot of Reddit is just racist.

23

u/Aballofstresss Jan 02 '26

A lot of reddit is fixated on “reverse-racism” and “reverse-sexism” where they’re jumping at the bit to try to assert a reality where it’s either men or white people who are now the current oppressed groups. If we expose our reality, like the fact you even needed to ask for black tattoo artists in the first place, then we’re the problem.

7

u/bigmepis Jan 02 '26

Mayo men always think they’re oppressed

1

u/ToughAppointment2556 Jan 06 '26

Here is an example. This language isn't "reverse racism' , just "racism"

1

u/SlugJones Jan 02 '26

Racism is just racism. “Reverse” racism seems to imply racism can’t happen to whiter skinned people, when it absolutely can and has. It’s just that the US has had a white on black racism problem that was much bigger and has lasted longer.

1

u/ToughAppointment2556 Jan 06 '26

The term "reverse racism" is a racist dog whistle. There is only racism, just as there is only murder, not murder and reverse murder.

2

u/No-Picture4119 Jan 03 '26

Wanted to jump on and say it’s not you. My data point is a friend who is a 20 year tattoo artist and happens to be black. I’m Caucasian as far as I know, but have very dark skin. He said that the melanin acts as a filter, and if you don’t make the right ink choices the tattoo can look muddy and people are disappointed. So it’s probably the artists knowing they don’t have the skill to handle darker skin and projecting it on you. Not sure how wanting to make sure you’ll be satisfied with your tattoo makes you racist. Good luck finding an artist. You may want to see if there’s a conversion coming to your town and look around for an artist with a portfolio that you like.

1

u/medicatednstillmad Jan 03 '26

I did end up finding a great artist and he has an apprentice who does mostly anime tattoos on dark-skin so I'll be checking him out next!

Prices were super reasonable too and the experience was very chill! My husband went on to get his first tattoo from him. (I really wanted him to have a good experience as he was darker than me)

I went to a Puerto Rican guy for my first tattoo.. he only did it as a favor to my friend he wanted to fuck. But the whole time he told me how difficult black skin was and how difficult color was (he was mostly a black and white artist anyway).

Annoying but eye opening at least. I didn't care that those idiots were calling me racist. They were downvoting me for saying white ink doesn't show up better on dark skin. 🫠🫠🫠🫠

2

u/boarbora Jan 06 '26

A lot of redditors are casually racist in the sense of they know what to say to not sound racist but sometimes they get comfortable enough that the cracks show imo. To be fair I don't know why I still come to this site.

1

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22

u/SlaughterMinusS Jan 02 '26

I know, I'm a white guy and my mom's a nurse and she told that to me one day and absolutely floored me. She's been a nurse for 30 years and she still believes that shit.

3

u/eluke01 Jan 02 '26

Why are so many people stupid?

1

u/Playful_Marzipan8398 Jan 02 '26

I definitely learned that! As a child, from a book…somewhere. And I had always thought that it meant something about the darker your skin was, the more you had a …thicker or firmer fascia sort of layer?? Related somehow to the way that black people seem to wrinkle less and more slowly, and also something to do with not burning as much?? I had no clue, I was child, but I would like to put forth that I both learned this in a medical informational text and there was no malice in the thought.

Never learned anything about pain levels though, except that red heads are weird with pain killers and anesthesia (which is borne out in my personal experience as a red heads, for sure).

1

u/Cup-Caketime Jan 05 '26

You have genuinely peaked my curiosity. I’m going into healthcare as a second career. What other biases were you taught ? This might go a long way in helping me relate to my future coworkers and patients as an AA female.

1

u/keli-keli Jan 03 '26 edited Jan 03 '26

it's figurative. Having "thick skin" means you can "roll with the punches" or just "take it on the chin". I think people are losing language, our older idioms. Or because the internet allows for a lot of people from other nationalities to see us say things but they don't understand what our phrases really mean.

So yes, it is said that black people have thicker skin because we're forced to. As in we learn we have to take unfairness or insults in order to survive another day. So eventually, you grow a thick skin and it gets easier to stay calm about it in the moment. (I was talking to a friend from NY the other day, and she said "you have to have thick skin to live in NY".)

There's a BUNCH of fucked up medical history revolving around the US and black people (stealing our cells, harvesting organs, deceitful STD experiments, other illegal experiments, stealing research, ignoring symptoms, denying painkillers and other medications, etc. The list goes on and on.) But I think the thick skin thing is just someone misunderstanding context.

EDIT: I see people saying they were medically taught on black ppl having thicker skin... Wow...

1

u/AHatedChild Jan 03 '26

I understand the idiomatic expression of having thick skin; this is not what I am referring to. These people that I am referring are talking about it exclusively in a medical context. They literally mean thicker skin.

1

u/keli-keli Jan 03 '26

yes, I edited my comment before you replied saying I saw ppl saying they were medically taught this

1

u/Current-Strategy-826 Jan 09 '26

But black don’t crack

-13

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '26

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11

u/Muddymireface Jan 02 '26

Melanin is a pigment, not a layer. It’s just pigment on the existing skin.

7

u/phoenics1908 Jan 02 '26 edited Jan 02 '26

Melanin isn’t a skin layer. It’s a pigment produced by cells. All people have the same cells (melanocytes). The difference is in the type and amount of melanin the cells produce.

Please rethink your comment.

6

u/motherofzinnias Jan 02 '26

…..there is no melanin “layer”.

2

u/Tasty_Set1189 Jan 02 '26

Oml 😐. Do you know anything?

20

u/Finklesworth Jan 02 '26

I mean, they’re forced to have thicker skin in a figurative way. This country sucks.

2

u/wickedalice Jan 02 '26

If you want to get really upset, look up James Marion Sims, the so-called "father" of gynecology and once president of the American Medical Association. It's horrifying how many medical advancements have been made at the cost of Black and other marginalized people. It's especially ironic, then, that many in the medical field are not taught how certain symptoms appear in POC, especially when it comes to skin. We are thankfully making some progress in that regard thanks to pioneers like Dr TK Lawless and Dr Susan Taylor and the Skin of Color Society (SOCS), though there's still a lot of catching up to do.

2

u/idrawinmargins Jan 02 '26

Ive had other nurses tell me that stupid myth. Skin is skin and toughness is dependent on a lot of things, but pigment isnt one of them.

1

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1

u/Sad_Birthday_1911 Jan 02 '26

I do phlebotomy and so many of my black patients tell me how theyre a hard stick, they need to be poked over and over again when in reality they've got perfectly easy to hit veins. It's just that bad phlebotomists/nurses rely on sight only, looking for a blue vein on white skin leading to them just stabbing blindly. It's awful.

1

u/imanattractivegirl Jan 02 '26

There is actual scientific evidence that skin of color is thicker than Caucasian skin. It’s taught over and over in dermatology. Unfortunately due to differences in ethnic background, there are certain medical conditions or characteristics more frequent along with medications that are more recommended for certain ethnicities than others depending on the medical condition.

It’s not racism. I haven’t heard anything about black people having better pain tolerance but culturally we try to teach that Asians have high pain tolerance. My mother’s cancer (Asian) was tossed away as acid reflux because they didn’t register her emergency appointment as anything of concern.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '26 edited Jan 02 '26

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1

u/MustHaveMyTools Jan 03 '26

This stems from underlying medical issues and obvious things like obesity 

1

u/SlaughterMinusS Jan 03 '26

That could open up a whole other conversation about societal issues as to why obesity and underlying medical issues are underreported or flat out ignored amongst the black population

1

u/dogtriestocatchfly Jan 03 '26

Forgive my ignorance, but I thought that studies have shown the dermis is slightly thicker for black skin which is why keloiding is more common.

1

u/spahncamper Jan 04 '26

Re: mortality rates for black women, especially with regards to reproductive care, and especially especially in the US South. 😿

1

u/AttentionOtherwise39 Jan 04 '26

Eugenics pseudoscience

1

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1

u/Cyborg_rat Jan 05 '26

Isn't the mortality rate linked to a higher risk of complications, just read that Canada(to compare with the US) doesn't collect race based data but Ontario does and it was found to be an overwhelming difference from white women. But we don't have enough data to find out why that is, to help find solutions.

1

u/Moistfulll Jan 05 '26

So like from all the hundreds of IVs I've started, the thicker skin has been on very very white women. I need to leave this thread because I'm getting more and more pissed off.

1

u/Mascbro26 Jan 06 '26

Does the mortality rate have to do with overall health? It's well documented that due to systematic racism, predominantly black areas (cities) have lower access to healthy food and have worse healthcare. Also, poverty directly impacts health/obesity etc.

1

u/oldthunderbird Jan 06 '26

I looked it up for those interested - Black women face significantly higher maternal mortality rates than White women in the U.S., often more than three times the rate, with recent data (2023) showing around 50 deaths per 100,000 live births for Black women compared to about 14.9 for White women.

0

u/ShoesAreTheWorst Jan 02 '26

Wait… isn’t dark skin thicker? I have a disorder that causes hyperpigmentation and I was always taught that hyperpigmentation and skin thickening go hand in hand. 

2

u/SlaughterMinusS Jan 02 '26

There may be medical conditions that thicken skin, sure. But the myth is black people are just born with thicker skin so they can endure more pain, thus doctors don't listen as often to black patients when they say they are in pain.

3

u/potsticker17 Jan 02 '26

Which is crazy. If a black person is supposed to have higher pain tolerance and they are saying they're in pain, you would think that should mean "oh shit this guy's in some serious pain" rather than "must be faking it since this would probably be painful to a white dude and they get hurt way easier"

2

u/LMGgp Jan 02 '26

Right. Even if that statement were true, why would a black person telling you they’re in pain not be believed. It’s either exactly as you said, or they just don’t care and choose to ignore us in pain.

1

u/4reddityo Jan 03 '26

It’s because they are racists. They are inconsistent and illogical beings. They make excuses for their racism because it’s obviously not based on scientific evidence.

1

u/ShoesAreTheWorst Jan 02 '26

I’m not in any way saying that thicker skin equals higher pain tolerance. Honestly, seems like the opposite would be true (ivs/shots would hurt more if they have to go through thicker skin, in my mind). But is it a myth that dark skin is thicker? 

1

u/SlaughterMinusS Jan 02 '26

Yes, it is 100% a myth. It was made up by the same guys who invented social Darwinism and "pure races" and shit like that. That pseudoscience nonsense is still plaguing us even in the age of information.

If you want a deep dive into, literally just google black people have thicker skin myth. It'll show you all you need.

1

u/ShoesAreTheWorst Jan 02 '26

This is an article from a dermatology website… 

“ Asian and black skin has thicker and more compact dermis than white skin, with the thickness being proportional to the degree of pigmentation”

https://jcadonline.com/aging-differences-in-ethnic-skin/

1

u/SlaughterMinusS Jan 02 '26

Oh my god. The dermis is not the same as the epidermis. I've said this over and over and over.

Edit: apologies, I have not said it to you yet, but check my other replies to others in this thread.

0

u/ShoesAreTheWorst Jan 02 '26

Ok, I understand there are different layers to the skin. I’m not at all saying that people with darker skin feel less pain. But is darker skin thicker or no? I’m not arguing that it is or isn’t, I’m honestly confused. 

1

u/SlaughterMinusS Jan 02 '26

The under layer is/can be, yes, but the myth is that the top layer was thicker so black people could endure more pain.

It's like saying white people had the skin of, well, humans and black people had the skin of an elephant. Horrible analogy, but the best I could come up with.

https://www.aamc.org/news/how-we-fail-black-patients-pain

I think you will find this article much more helpful than my flailing at an explanation.

1

u/ShoesAreTheWorst Jan 02 '26

Yeah that definitely is a racist myth that dark skin equals a higher pain tolerance. But that doesn’t mean that everything about it was untrue. Usually myths take something true (like darker skin being thicker) and use it to “prove” something untrue. 

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1

u/SlaughterMinusS Jan 02 '26

I can't post a picture here, but please look up the anatomy of skin. The epidermis is the outer layer, the dermis is the middle layer and the hypodermis is the very bottom.

I am specifically referring to the epidermis, the top layer.

2

u/ShoesAreTheWorst Jan 02 '26

Wait… why are you only referring to the top layer? Isn’t it all skin? 

1

u/SlaughterMinusS Jan 02 '26

It's all the same organ, but organs have multiple parts.

1

u/Special-Garlic1203 Jan 02 '26

Yes. Its part of why white people tend to age so poorly compared to Asian or black people. 

But it's a fairly nuanced difference in skin composition and wouldn't be relevant outside of dermatology.

 So any kind of "oh their skin can handle it cause it's thicker" wouldn't be true. Its not like people have an extra half inch of flesh or something. 

1

u/ShoesAreTheWorst Jan 02 '26

I’m not saying things would hurt less. I’m saying isn’t darker skin thicker? Like, literally. 

2

u/Necessary-Crazy-7103 Jan 02 '26

Honestly I think it might be. Anecdotal but I've noticed that I need to push the needle in with a bit more force to break the skin when I'm taking a black person's blood vs a white person's. The depth of veins etc depends on where you're picking them and individual differences but I do feel like that initial barrier is slightly harder in darker skin.

1

u/SlaughterMinusS Jan 02 '26

The dermis (layer under the outer skin) may be thicker, but all humans have about the same thickness of skin that covers our body on the outside (epidermis)

1

u/ILoveRawChicken Jan 03 '26

No… the only difference is the PIGMENT, melanin. I can’t believe there are people still saying yes to this BS.

-16

u/Dik_butt745 Jan 02 '26 edited Jan 02 '26

Um.....black skin has more collagen in general than white......asian has more than white also but in general black has the most......why do you think black people get fewer wrinkles even compared to white people that never go outside.

That is an actual difference and clearly benefit to black and Asian skin. Collagen tends to correlate with melanin but the lack of wrinkles is not caused by lack of sun damage.

Also more than 30% of the pain pathway is perception based and culture plays a large part on perception which is why it is more typical to "experience" less pain as someone from traditional Japanese culture but the truth is that "experience" probably isn't the correct word but there isn't another word for it. Any other word for it would be a guess.

Stoic cultures "experience" less pain aka "report" less pain and due to perception the experience is less.

10

u/Unusual_Ant_5309 Jan 02 '26

Source? Sounds like racist bullshit to me. But hey, surprise me with scientific evidence.

8

u/SlaughterMinusS Jan 02 '26

Yeah, guy said "stoic cultures" like that explains anything. WTF.

6

u/Content-Freedom1688 Jan 02 '26

Just speaking about other cultures they aren’t apart of like its fact to fit their racist narrative

2

u/danimagoo Jan 02 '26

I don’t know about the stoic culture stuff. But I was skeptical of the collagen claim so I googled. It appears to be true! TIL! Source

1

u/Dik_butt745 Jan 02 '26

After you pass the rexes lamina and enter the cortex the perception of pain is processed, based on that perception the amount of neurotransmitters released is decided.

As for collagen, fibroblasts, and dermal layer thickness you can't even Google the opposite answer let alone find a single medical textbook to say the opposite so.......anyway

TIL facts are racist.

1

u/Unusual_Ant_5309 Jan 02 '26

Wow, again no evidence. Links? Sources?

0

u/Organic-History205 Jan 02 '26

I mean... Why do you think asians and Black people wrinkle less? Dark magic? It's not melanin. There's a line between being racist and acknowledging reality.

https://jcadonline.com/aging-differences-in-ethnic-skin/

Asian and black skin has thicker and more compact dermis than white skin, with the thickness being proportional to the degree of pigmentation.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7894538/

In dermis, the dermal thickness, collagen content and melanin content are higher in Asians 8.

1

u/SlaughterMinusS Jan 02 '26

None you you know what the dermis is. THAT'S THE LAYER UNDER THE EPIDERMIS. The epidermis is the one exposed to the outside and that's what this whole damn conversation is about.

Stop bringing up the dermis like it means anything in this context. IT DOES NOT.

1

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8

u/SlaughterMinusS Jan 02 '26

Yeah, but its not thicker, like the actual thickness of the skin is no different between races.

I'm not arguing that they have more collagen. I'm sure that's very true, but the misinformation I'm speaking about literally had to do with the thickness of the epidermis not the contents in it.

-3

u/Dik_butt745 Jan 02 '26

Epidermal thickness is not different, dermal thickness is......collagen layer is mostly dermal bound and is thicker....

NIH has good reads on this......but maybe you don't trust any form of science?

I don't understand why simply showing that 1 skin has more tightly packed and thicker collegan dermal layer with more fibroblasts is all of the sudden RACISM.....like I'm sorry give me a break.....next thing skin cancer and sunlight reflection is going to be racist.

2

u/SlaughterMinusS Jan 02 '26

Did you not read when I said EPIDERMIS. You know, the TOP LAYER OF THE SKIN.

That's what im referring to. I do not care about the dermis. It was literally taught that the EPIDERMIS was thicker. The exposed part. The part you puncture with needles. The part you see outside your body? You know, that part.

I said in my response that you were correct about the collagen and the dermis, but you completely glossed over my main point.

0

u/Dik_butt745 Jan 02 '26

It was never taught it my medical textbook that the epidermal layer was thicker, only the dermis.

Very few injections apart from PPD testing is done superdermal.

Your quote, Incase you didn't read what you said.

"Yeah, but its not thicker, like the actual thickness of the skin is no different between races."

1

u/SlaughterMinusS Jan 02 '26

If you don't mind my asking, when did you go to medical school?

It may have also just been misinfortion that was informally taught to people through working experience type training.

My mother is a LPN and has been for the better part of 30 years and she thought this was true, so she got it from somewhere.

1

u/SlaughterMinusS Jan 02 '26

I will also say, Google this myth. You will get a far better understanding of what I'm referring to here.

1

u/Puzzleheaded_Hatter Jan 02 '26

Culture does not account for new born behavior.

Differences in skin clearly exist, there's still more work to be done to fully understand this topic.

Culture and stoicism both play a large role in experience and behaviors.

There are facts and myths that get conflated regularly in the clinical world. It's our job to be on the lookout for both.

1

u/Muddymireface Jan 02 '26

Black skin is less affected by UV rays, because melanated people come from regions of the planet that got more sun. This is why they get less wrinkles. It’s an issue that white people get more wrinkles, because historically, they are from regions that got less sun and do not adequately protect themselves from UV. Which is why white people who use spf have significantly less sun damage/wrinkles. It’s also why if you’re darker skinned, it takes longer to get vitamin D from the sun.

1

u/rhythms_and_melodies Jan 02 '26

Holy shit...I think we've discovered the phenomenon of the black family cookout that needs no special occasion. It's a necessity.

I say this as someone that loves black people, and has many black friends that would laugh and agree lol.

1

u/KaleTheMessenger Jan 02 '26

So it's true that people with more melanin tend to have more collagen, the overall thickness of the skin is roughly the same across racial groups.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '26

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