▪	The major determinant of normal skin color is the activity of melanocytes, i.e. the quantity and quality of pigment production, not the density of melanocytes
	▪	Melanocytes contain a unique intracytoplasmic organelle, the melanosome, which is the site of melanin biosynthesis
	▪	Compared with lightly pigmented skin, darkly pigmented skin has melanosomes that contain more melanin and are larger; once transferred to keratinocytes, the melanosomes are singly dispersed and degraded more slowly
	▪	Tyrosinase is the key enzyme in the melanin biosynthetic pathway
	▪	Two major forms of melanin are produced in melanocytes: brown–black eumelanin and yellow–red pheomelanin
	▪	The production of eumelanin versus pheomelanin is influenced by the binding of melanocyte stimulating hormone to the melanocortin-1 receptor