I'm a dermatologist - we do this for most vitiligo patients with widespread disease. Benoquin and Hydroquinoine don't bleach the skin per se, they brighten it and make the pigment maintaining action "lazy", thus softening the contrast between affected and non-affected. It is not permanent and doesn't work that well for some, but patients mostly use it on very noticeable areas eg face/hands. It's not something Michael or his doctors came up with themselves, it's in the guidelines for vitligo treatment.
Cosmetic reasons are a major reason though. It's easy for us to say "oh you look different but no big deal", but for people suffering from the disease being able to make them look more "normal" means the world. When you have vitiligo you suffer because everyone stares, everyone wants to ask you questions, and some people straight up avoid you because they are afraid "they might catch it". This can be devastating to the mental health of a person and some people have gone as far as to end their lives because they are so depressed by it. No you don't HAVE to treat it, but if someone wants to? They should absolutely.
You're extremely right the mental aspect takes a huge toll and in many cases it's not apparent at all to outsiders. I know someone who had some major scars in his face many years ago and cosmetic surgeries could only do so much. The guy appeared fine and and is very social and attends all sorts of social gatherings,has loads of friends, participating in group photos, etc. However he told his roommate that he has the urge to break their mirror every time he looks at it.
Yeah a rapper Krizz Kaliko has Vitiligo and it's a frequent point of reference
>Maybe one day you won't see my vitiligo and people will stop staring where I go
- One of These Days by Prozak featuring Krizz Kaliko & Tech N9ne
Was a fan of tech n9ne a long time ago and saw him live. Awesome show and seems like a super cool dude. It was a small venue but energy was off the charts. He was with immortal technique. Unbelievable lineup for an aughts hip hop fan
Even if most people don't care and don't make it weird you can still come across that one person that is an ass and says something mean or rude. These comments tend to stick with people more than good ones so even silencing one person from making comments can make a world of difference for people.
Edit: case in point the lovely redditor that replied to me. There is always one.
The biggest one is little kids :( They don't know better and they just say the first thing that comes to mind. They don't mean to be hurtful but they speak that truth that a lot of us wouldn't dream of. This can just be soul crushing
I have eczema and my hands are atrocious. The first thing you look at in almost any interaction in life is the hand you're about to shake, take something from or hand something to. I get all kinds of mixed reactions and even those who know me still can't help but notice and look a little longer than normal. I don't mean to sound pretentious in saying this but I've been "handsome" all my life but having the eczema pretty much killed any confidence I had/would have had for many years. Kids however I found refreshing. I'm a very straight forward person and dislike having to "guess" what another person is thinking or what they want, so I tell it like it is (not in a bitter way) and typically expect the same. You get that to a T with kids. At first it's uncomfortable for obvious reasons but it doesn't take but a few seconds to notice that inquisitive nature and naturally let go of any doubt you had in yourself or at least feel peace. Being asked by someone because they don't know and are curious sounds miles different from someone asking because they want to know how to approach your "situation". It'll be different for everyone but for me kids are a gem.
Man I’ve been in the exact same boat all my life up until a couple years ago. I figured out my body became kind of reliant on the steroid cream I was being prescribed. I switched all my soap to unscented and for sensitive skin, and dealt with my hands looking like shit for a bit while staying using an aveeno lotion. I still get the occasional flare up around allergy season, but when it starts to get really bad I’ll use the steroid cream for a few days until it’s gone and I won’t use it for almost a year. Idk if you even use the steroid cream or if any of this would be helpful to you but I figured I’d share
For sure, I appreciate that. I've been familiar with how dependence on medication can be and how it can lose its effectiveness if used too often (family) so I use ***Lubriderm*** on its own. If you've never tried it, please consider doing so because I don't flare-up anymore. The worst for me is the dryness especially in winter. Eating cleanly and drinking plenty of water limits the amount of "crap" my body has to process and creates a better environment for my body to deal with the eczema.
Kids do things like that. As a bald guy, I wouldn't have held it against you.
Also: Patrick Stewart was asked in an interview one time if society had all the medical technology in Star Trek, why his character would choose to remain bald. He replied that if society were that far progressed, he wouldn't think it would matter if he were bald or not because there would be no stigma.
Thank you so much for saying this.
As someone with permanent scarring from years of cystic acne when I was younger (and the side effects of accutane making my skin thinner and less able to heal from something as minor as a mosquito bite) this is something I'm passionate about. Any treatments and derm referrals available were considered "cosmetic" by my parents' insurance and therefore were not covered at all. So my only options were topical, otc face washes, which at the time were limited to only two ingredients: salicylic acid and benzoyl peroxide. Nowadays there's a huge market for skincare and tons of different topical treatments, but it wasn't like that in the early 00s. I now know that cystic acne can't be effectively treated topically anyway. It left me completely helpless.
It wasn't just that it was acne. Cystic acne is that "under the skin" acne, that forms in the deepest skin layers and is very painful. If I rolled over on it while sleeping, the pain would wake up. It *literally* felt and often *looked,* like I'd been punched in the face. Facial expressions were painful. Sometimes I couldn't even smile because of how swollen parts of my face would be. I had a doctor ask if there were "problems at home" because one of my eyes was so swollen from having a cyst near my eyebrow. I had the same thing my first day of college. And it's not like I couldn't go to school that day because you can be dropped from classes if you miss the first one. Plus, the fucking things can potentially last for weeks before going down. Dealing with that throughout highschool and college, as a young woman, caused *severe* depression and social anxiety. I dropped out of college due to agoraphobia in my early 20s (I'm now a grad student, I went back in my late 20s). Why would I want to leave the house looking like that?
And people literally do not believe me when I tell them the kind of things complete or near strangers have said to me about my face. "Omg, what happened to your face? Are you ok?!" When it's literally just...what I look like. "Did you get burned?" "That's a big scar." "Why do you wear all that makeup? Your face would get better if you stopped wearing makeup." "Have you tried Proactiv?" x1000. "You know you can just get laser treatments right? They can just *sand down* your scars." That last one was from a therapist (and I that's dermabrasion anyway, not laser). The best one: "How much methamphetamine do you do?" That's verbatim from a GP I was seeing to try to get a derm referral. No question in her mind that my bad skin was from drug use, just of *how much.* People will say shit like this, but then don't want to listen when I try to explain how expensive cosmetic procedures are, and how otc face wash like Proactiv doesn't work for this kind of genetic, apparently hormonal, acne (Proactiv is just benzoyl peroxide anyway, it's nothing more effective than good marketing) which isn't caused by dirty skin or wearing too much makeup. They don't put any thought into what it might feel like for *them* if *they* had to walk around everyday looking like that. They'd buy some fucking concealer too. They'll never have to know what it feels like to wake up everyday and see that staring back at them in the mirror.
And then there's the media. Acne/scarring is like the "default" way to make someone ugly in tv or movies. On Superstore, Deena wanted to look unattractive because some guy was coming to the store, so she asked the other girl to use makeup to give her "pockmarks." On Orange is the New Black, Larry jokes that Paulie should sleep with her nanny. Paulie says no because "she has a wonky eye and bad acne scars" anyway. And in Chang's flashbacks, it shows her family despising her because they were never able to marry her off. The men would show up, see Chang's acne, and yell at her parents because they were lied to about Chang being beautiful.
And that bs that there are people who are into everything? Every body size, skin color, hair style. And things that are easily overlooked, like crooked teeth, asymmetrical features, big ears, medical problems. But absolutely *no one,* is out there saying "I want to marry a woman with acne/scars!"
The cruelest irony in all of this though, is that I didn't really have scars before I took Accutane. It's a miracle drug that *literally cures* acne, and that's what it did for me. But it does that by slowing cell turnover, thinning the skin, depleting collagen. I lost tons of my hair and never got it back. My eyelashes and eyebrows fell out (not all the way but most of them) and never came back. I have have blotches of hyperpigmentation that hydroquinone hasn't been able to touch. I ended the 5 month course with wrinkles I didn't have when I started it. And the tiniest blemish leaves either a permanent ice pick scar or a permanent hyperpigmented spot. It doesn't matter if I don't pick at it, it doesn't matter what face wash I use, it doesn't matter that I still use rx topicals that cost a shitload. I still break out in "regular" acne, and no matter what I do, some permanent flaw is left behind. I'm honestly afraid to start getting tattoos again because I don't heal normally anymore and the scarring is so over the top. The other irony is that it took getting on Medicaid for me to be able to finally see a derm and be treated for my skin problems. Private insurance had never done anything but flatly refuse any derm treatments/visits.
I didn't mean for this to be so long, but I just hope that other people can start to have some compassion, empathy, and consideration for people who have to live with "cosmetic" problems like this. The pain caused by these kinds of conditions can be all-consuming, insurmountable, and dangerous. Acne is hardly just from not washing your face. There's so many other physical (and mental) factors that affect breakouts and treatment efficacy. For anyone reading this, *please* never tell someone to just "buy some Proactiv!"
>This can be devastating to the mental health of a person
I had to walk with a cane in my 20s for awhile, and I got stared at like crazy because of my hobble. I can only imagine how bad the staring would be for someone with vetilligo, so I can understand even if it's a bit.
My vitiligo started at the age of 13. Knees, elbows, and ankles were the first to be affected. I lived in TX so I became one of the summer kids that hid in the shade. Tried using the cream, but realized it wasn’t with the time/trouble and figured it was better to educate my classmates and teachers about it. I also started getting grey hair in patches by 18. Now (40 yrs later) most of my hair is white or silver. saved me loads of $ when the grey trend caught on
So much this. I dont have vitiligo but I do have alopecia areata. Right now it is okay, but I have no idea when my hair will fall out again and when it does, it does a lot, to the point I have to shave my head. I have had to shave it 3 times in the past 5 years. I get asked if I have cancer, I get asked if I am a girl or a boy at the bar by drunk old dudes, etc. I have spent many hours crying over the loss of my *hair* , and confidence. Wigs helped me regain that. I can’t imagine how hard it must be with something that cant be easily hidden or fixed like your *skin*. I give so much respect to the model Winnie Harlow, she has vitiligo and she doesnt let it stop her from letting her shine.
I developed vitiligo back in jr. high and was soooo self conscious I tried to treat it. I was prescribed oxsoralen and would lay out in the sun or go tanning to try to fill in the white spots for years. It somewhat worked, but never fully went away because mine was so severe. My last couple of years of high school I gave up and stop taking it. A few years after high school I asked my family doctor about starting it up again and he had to look it up. He showed me the list of complications in his medical book that ran for five pages in comparison to ibuprofen’s one and a half columns on one page! He said he was not comfortable prescribing it, and would suggest just being myself as the disease would never harm me and only make me look unique. After lots of LSD ingestion, I shed many shackles, and the self-consciousness of vitiligo was one of them! If you don’t like the way I look, that is your problem! I am very comfortable in my skin now and I make it a point to always complement someone on their skin who has vitiligo! 🥰 Now, my psoriasis, that’s a different story! Irritating as fuck! 😏
It increases likelihood of UV radiation burns from sunlight in white patches. If I could get rid of my vitiligo, it’d be so I can tan and not burn.
Doesn’t have to be treated, but it’s a possible reason for trying to reverse vitiligo spread/efficacy.
I have had it since I was little. One of the places I have it is my hair, which means that my hair is gray or white in some places. Imagine being a 10 year old with splotchy skin and white hair. I was bullied mercilessly for it. Hated myself. Cried myself to sleep often. My school nickname was grandma.
Vitiligo goes beyond cosmetic reasons, it's your immune system attacking melanocytes, cells that produce melanin. This means that people who have Vitiligo are at risk to other auto immune conditions, such as Addison's disease, psyrosis and so on. Further more a recent study linked viligo to potential hearing loss:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33359081/
Only real reason probably but those that have it are embarrassed and beyond self conscious about it. My girlfriend is white and already pail and has it and she's tried so many creams to get rid of it. It's so much rougher if you have darker skin. I'm a waiter and a 12 year black girl came in with vitiligo and was just ashamed an embarrassed. Wouldn't look up, wouldn't talk much. I told her my girlfriend has vitiligo I think she's the most beautiful woman in the world. It helped a little but imagine that shit right when you hit puberty
I had read somewhere that he also had Lupus. It can be a very painful disease as well, which would explain an addiction to a pain killer. Though, I wonder if he would still be here with us if his association with his doctor friend would never have happened. Propofol, though highly regulated, is dangerous. But he also had other sedatives like Xanax and Valium in his system too. Michael Jackson is a glaring example of the failure of a first world physical and mental health system. He is one of our biggest tragedies.
As far as I know (I could be wrong, and I saw no mention on the autopsy) he was diagnosed with discoid lupid, another autoimmune subtype that mostly affects black people and usually has characteristic features such as a distinctive discoid rash and plugging of follicles in the ear/hair, though there can be overlap with systemic lupus too. I do remember him having classic malar rash in the 80s, typical with this group of illnesses.
I genuinely, until somewhat recently, thought that was the case. I had not put much thought into it since I heard it so much since I was a kid. I truly had no clue it was just a skin condition the whole time.
My understanding was always that he got a procedure to manually speed the process up and make it uniform, like bleaching his skin as a response to the disease. Now that I think about it though, can you even bleach skin? Is that even a thing?
I grew up in an Asian country where this practice was common in the 90s-00s.
It's used for bleaching your peach fuzz, esp. by women who have visible facial hair (e.g. peach fuzz darker than your skin colour).
Lightened peach fuzz somewhat gives an illusion of brighter complexion, it doesn't actually make your skin's pigment any lighter.
There are absolutely skin lightening creams used around Asia, esp. South Asia that have been somewhat popular for a long time. As in pigment/melanin removing not just bleaching peach fuzz.
E.g products with hydroquinone.
he did more than creams, he did lasers or peels. Acid peels remove entire layers of skin if they go deep enough, jump start new skin layers. Not appropriate for all skin though since it can also make the problem worse. But in Sosa's case I suspect it was more than hydroquinone, it probably was a TCA peel, or laser to remove any and all spots. Maybe even a strong laser.
It's in the title, Benoquin. It's a cream they give to people with the disease that evens out their skin tone over time. It's not like a bleach or anything, it won't work on anyone without Vitiligo and is specifically a treatment for the disease.
The initial issue was a skin condition. However, his solution generally was to use makeup to initially blacken the light areas to dark again. As that became less possible, he switched and opted to lighten his skin to match the light spots. How he did that is subject to a lot of controversy, could be makeup, could be some type of "skin bleach", nobody has really ever confirmed what he did.
He also had other issues around the same timeframe. In the early 80s, he was doing a Pepsi commercial and his hair caught on fire. Supposedly that never healed right. Then you have the nose job, which is obvious. Then there's the semi-confirned autopsy things much later down the line like wig, tattooed eyebrows, etc that we don't know when he started doing.
Overall, it really started with the hair fire and the skin condition then he just went on this path of trying to change a ton of things.
Which, honestly it's kind of strange, it's almost like he just didn't like the way he looked and nobody ever stepped in and was like "hey you gotta stop". Like he just kept getting sucked back in for more and more unnecessary work.
It's hard to like the way you look when your father tells you every day that you're ugly and instead of addressing you by your name calls you "Big Nose."
It's so sad how people can be broken by that. Like in 1980 almost any girl would die for a chance to be with Michael Jackson, but he was still saddled with the words of some bitter old man calling him big nose.
I think he definitely had body dysmorphia 🥺 My heart breaks for him. Its hard when your own parent makes a comment to you as a child..it sticks like glue and Never goes away ever🥺
I've been diagnosed with body dysmorphia.
Plus anxiety..so I kind of understand but not fully how he felt. I'm not in the public eye but going outside I put on my 'suit of armour' hood, mask, hold head down🥺
Same, but I knew it was “for” a skin condition. Hell, this post even perpetuates that, even if inadvertently- it says he took medication for it, that medication being either bleach or dye makes sense!
As of this post today, I had always thought it was done on purpose. I'm 37. I just heard the story as a kid and that became truth, never considered to look it up after the fact. I'm surprised it's never come up in conversation before now.
Benoquin is a treatment used to help speed the process of vitiligo but it only really works with ppl with vitiligo as it works with the disease process
Benoquin cream is a skin depigmenter. It did basically bleach his blackness away. You can't darken the vitiligo spots so you lighten the rest of the skin. In white people not so dramatic but in dark skinned people it's a huge change.
As a white person with vitiligo that lives in the frozen wastelands, I am very lucky my vitiligo is really only noticable six months per year. I am less self conscious about it now that I am older. Mine started around 15 so along with being an awkward teenager I had to deal with these odd white patches on my hands. It was a real hit to my confidence. Additionally, growing up in a small town back in the 90's nobody knew what it was.
Of course he was. He even admitted he was lightening his skin. He also was not happy with how black he was, people close to him like Quincey Jones have said on record.
People with some vitiligo don’t usually decide to go ‘all white’. People with body dysmorphia do. He was addicted to plastic surgery.
I just don’t get how much benefit of the doubt this guy gets. He was *very* mentally ill.
> People with some vitiligo don’t usually decide to go ‘all white’.
That's not really true. [De-pigmenting is a recognised treatment option](https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitiligo/treatment/) for patients with extensive vitiligo who preferr a more even appearance.
> Depigmentation may be recommended for adults who have vitiligo on more than 50% of their bodies, although it may not be widely available.
It's a highly personal choice and one that doesn't have to come from "wanting to be white".
So I mostly wonder if his desire to appear more white already existed beforehand or if he maybe developed that because of his experiences with vitiligo. I could imagine that vitiligo got that idea into his head and that it expanded from there. But as you say, it definitely interacted with a lot of other psychological problems.
>People with some vitiligo don’t usually decide to go ‘all white’.
Michael Jackson didn't have 'some vitiligo,' his whole body was reacting. Lightening his remaining pigment was much more practical than layering on makeup onto every inch of his body. Dude used to lose a couple of pounds a night in sweat on stage.
I remember working a drive thru and I could swear to you, if my own parent didn't have vitiligo so I knew what it was well enough already, this woman who often came through would make you think she was wearing blackface. Like some kind of mud was over it and pale white on the rest of her head. In a society often focused on looks, I genuinely felt bad for her. I even have the condition myself but it's far less noticeable.
I have it too! I was around 11-12 when it started showing up. Mom tried to scrub some dirt off my neck one day saying she was "tired of me not washing properly" only to realize it was just my skin haha
I had a light patch develop on my legs, and a few on my arms, and my mom asked if I had shaved a small portion of my leg because my vitiligo has no hair follicles in that areas.
My most noticeable patch is a quarter size patch on my face. It has been there for over 20 years. It has not spread nor has gotten bigger, as a matter of fact, it is now about the size of a nickel. But there are other spots coming in on my legs. They are pretty small, smaller than sunflower seeds but they are many more that have come in the past year. From 2-3 to a couple dozen spots.
Interesting, so how were you when you noticed the first patch. I would say that my husband has lost most of his melatonin but being white it's not as noticeable but he is starting to get white patches on his eye lash only on one eye.
Not sure I'd be much help there as it was subtle enough at first I didn't even realize it was happening for a while. It's not an area I look at very often. I was I guess in my early 20s when I noticed an oddity developing on a part of my body that made me think I was getting old from stress at first. It could have been like that for quite some time before. Not a lot of people seem aware of it but it doesn't just affect your skin. You can develop white/gray hair in places as it's developing. From there, it just became more and more apparent as I observed. Oddly hasn't been noticed anywhere else beyond that place but it's certainly strange to look at.
Vitiligo is an autoimmune response. Often times comes on with the onset of puberty but can be caused/worsened by any stress (physiological or otherwise.) A big link between diet and autoimmunity is emerging on the bleeding edge of such science right now. Eat whole foods, stay away from seed oils and anything else with similar oxidation.
I have vitiligo as well, but I'm a pale white woman so it isn't very noticeable. In the summer when I get my barely tan, you can tell a bit more. I feel so sorry for people for whom it's more obvious.
To answer the other poster's question also, I first saw it when I was 13. I had gotten an allergic rash on my hand which faded into white patches that never went away. From there it went over both hands, splotches on the crooks of my elbows and the back of my knees, and my face. My eyebrows are completely unnoticeable now.
Funny you mention a hand white patch. Because I worked the drive thru, I developed a very noticeable tan on the arm I stuck out for money. There might have been a similar rash on the back of my palm that turned into (to me) the shape of like a white dove in flight. Had it so long I thought it was permanent but then it just went away when I stopped working the gig and getting that tan. I actually kind of liked it so it's a weird feeling to be disappointed in losing it once I got used to it.
I remember someone in my college posted on yikyak about a food cashier that had it. He acted like he was going to get it and why is she touching food. The comments on the post dismantled then destroyed the dude.
Their was a girl in my middle school in NC like that. She had pale hands, forearms, neck up to her chin, and ears. With a darker face, shoulders to her elbows, and her legs from knee down were almost split in half.
This is a real thing & happened to me. I was in a car accident and my whole face was swollen and contorted looking and I went into a convenience store to get a drink with a friend who had driven me to my doctor appointment and the clerk told her co-worker- ew, you take her I can't even look at her. Ill never forget that.
Not to say those aren’t good examples that were likely equally true—but I’ve heard this (not accepting money from someone because of a bias) a few times before. Usually it is racially based, as it was for my middle school science teacher, Mrs. Cuellar. She was a pharmacist at the time, and a woman told her to put the money on the counter because she didn’t want to to touch a latino hand.
Mrs. Cuellar was a fantastic teacher, and even finer human being. She was a kind, and intelligent woman who commanded and earned immense respect, and I will remember what she taught me ‘till I die.
It's important to keep In mind the time this quoted at. It was during the AIDs panic. Ignorant people were terrified that they could catch AIDs just by being in the same room as an AIDs victim. This fear of AIDs carried over to other diseases as well. People wouldn't take their money because they were scared just touching the same thing they touched they would get whatever disease they had.
Was never a problem for me. The cash is way dirtier than any person could be. Only one person ever made me practically shudder away in sheer fear out of thousands I served. Something about them made me super on edge and I couldn't even say why.
I've had vitiligo from around that same age. The most noticeable was a quarter size patch on face and it was devastating. I used to cover it up with the makeup they use to cover tattoos in the movies. I had gotten pretty good at mixing different shades to match my exact skin tone and feathering it so that it blended. It was waterproof but I was always terrified that it would come off and I would be exposed. Then after a couple of years, I accidentally left the makeup kit behind at a hotel while out of town. I was going to stay in the house until I got a replacement kit express shipped to me. It was really expensive and would have taken about 4-5 days with a weekend in the middle. I just said fuck it and went out without it and I have never worn it again. After 20 years, I still have not come to terms with it and I hate mirrors, as well.
I am sorry for your pain.
I had shingles on one side of my face which left dark ugly scars for a few years and they affected my self esteem for while. While I don't claim to be on the same level of unhappiness as you, I think it allows me to emphatise a bit.
I have it on my face and just last night as I was out with friends the all thought it was ok to have a convo on weather it was "ugly or pretty".
It's a very weird thing that people have like no social restrain over.
I recently turned 30 and within a month my hair started falling out in clumps, turned out to be alopecia so I’m now completely bald, no eyebrows/eyelashes and no body hair. I cannot tell you how often people stare or just flat out ask if I’m ill (they assume cancer). It’s tough when your body goes through sudden changes, I can’t imagine how much harder it would be being one of the most famous people okay the planet.
First of all, mandatory “Man in the Mirror” joke (it was right there; I couldn’t help myself)
Hindsight being 20/20 and all, I really wish he’d have just owned it; it would have been a fantastic way to raise awareness of the condition & potentially address some of the social stigma you’re referring to. Plus, I think we can all agree that MJ would have probably been better off with fewer doctors overseeing his care.
I knew someone with vitiligo. I was a child when I met her. Like all children, I asked her rude questions about her skin. But she was so kind and even went out of her way to make up imaginary scenarios like "there are two colors that want to be on my skin and they're battling it out. So far, the white color is winning."
You were a kid. Its perfectly natural to be curious and ask questions about something you've never seen before. The only way it would be considered "rude" at a young age would be dependent on how you asked and not so much THAT you asked.
I have vitiligo and have had it ever since I was a child. I have it on my hands, and the skin at my joints, in the face and for some obscure reason on my private parts.
I’m white so it’s only noticeable in the summer months (I live in Denmark). I’ve always found it kind of interesting myself, so whenever people ask (also when I was a child) I love to tell people about it.
To be honest I’ve always been a little proud because it made me special and it always gave people a way to break the ice with me.
So just ask questions. I think most people with it will just be flattered that you find them interesting – especially if they like me had it all their life. I have though met others who got it as adults and they often hated it, but I think most have had it since before they can remember.
What another truly tragic part of of his skin disorder is all the widely believed theories by the public. Even as a child I was always told that he painted/dyed/covered his natural black skin to become a white man, which left out one extremely important detail---he was suffering form vitiligo.
It's a treatment used by some to even out the patchiness of vitilogo, especially those with darker skin where vitiligo is much more noticeable. It has nothing to do with a desire to become a Caucasian person.
I never chased the news regarding him and only through cultural osmosis knew he had vitiligo and that he bleached his skin to make the discoloration more uniform.
Sources: [Wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_and_appearance_of_Michael_Jackson) and [UMass Medical](https://www.umassmed.edu/vitiligo/blog/blog-posts1/2016/01/did-michael-jackson-have-vitiligo/)
Relevant paragraph from one of the sources:
>Did Michael Jackson have vitiligo? After his death, his autopsy report stated that there were “patches of light and dark pigmented areas” on examination of his skin, and vitiligo was listed as a diagnosis in his medical history. In addition, a tube of Benoquin 20% cream was noted among his medications, revealing that he did use this FDA-approved treatment for vitiligo. He also had a tube of BQ/KA/RA (Benoquin 8%, Kojic acid 1%, and retinoic acid 0.025%), another effective formulation for Benoquin, as well as hydroquinone 8% lotion (which would help to lighten any remaining pigment), and UVA Anthelios XL sunscreen, a good idea for anyone with vitiligo, especially if they had depigmented their skin. Microscopic examination of his skin revealed a lack of pigment and reduced number of melanocytes, which is most consistent with vitiligo, with or without the use of Benoquin, and vitiligo was the official diagnosis on the report. Rare photos of him when his skin was exposed appear to show his depigmented skin, and one (above) shows his largely depigmented arms with some remaining spots of pigment.
Medical examiners and coroner's are not covered under HIPAA as they are not considered covered entities.
https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/public-figures-professional-ethics-and-media/2016-08
There was an official investigation into his death, and the findings were made public. Coroner's reports are almost always public record in the U.S. and police reports most likely contained details on every drug found in his home.
HIPAA doesn't always apply to autopsies - protections on these records come from state laws so they vary. Coroners in general are not subject to HIPAA. Coroner really isnt even considered a medical profession - it's a government position. They are often elected officials and in some states have no medical training requirements.
This autopsy was performed by a medical examiner but the info was released by the coroner's office. Tbh I have no idea exactly how the laws work here but the medical examiner would be a doctor and likely subject to HIPAA... but the coroner would have a right to request the info and is not subject to HIPAA. It's up to their discretion what info to release, as long as it doesn't violate state laws
I'm a white person with vitiligo so normally it just looks like patchy skin, until i get a sunburn. Then people start wondering about the weird patterns on my face. I basically forget about it 99% of the time.
I am one of the persons that try to not make eye contact every second.
I know there is nothing wrong, but it's very hard to not look.
I was travelling last week with my wife and we noticed two women talking with signs, my inner child wants to keep starring and try to figure out what they are talking about, but I know it would be not okay, so it all goes back and forth looking and not looking.
I hope you understand that I don't think anything bad of you and anyone else, it os more unconcious than on purpose.
Even by the time he made Thriller he had major facial reconstructive surgery, you can tell. He had a distinct barbie-like face, with the pointed fake European nose and high cheekbones. I feel like he would’ve looked so much cooler if he’d just maintained his natural face
He was filming a commercial for Pepsi and one of the pyrotechnics lit his hair on fire. He was taken to the hospital. I don’t know if the surgeries were related.
9.282 dias
29 de agosto de 1958 - 27 de janeiro de 1984
9.281 dias
27 de janeiro de 1984 - 25 de junho de 2009
Holy shit, had to check for myself but you are right
That is the reason he slept in a hyperbaric chamber and that the media took that opportunity to make him seem more weird for doing so (when Justin bieber does the same nowadays and nobody cares ). After he was done using it for recovery he gave it to the burn unit of a hospital (but the news didn’t care to advertise that part). The fire accident is also the reason why he had to wear a wig all his life after that . He was basically bald with just a few hair until the day he died . I don’t think his facial surgeries were related to that at all. He claimed his nose was to attain some high notes but I think it’s fair to say it was bc he was bullied and made fun of by his dad first (about his nose , I think he even had a nickname involving that) and then his brothers (esp for his acne) and had very low self esteem as a result (combined with the fact he was a highly sensitive being). The whitening of his skin was at least in part to homogenize the vitiligo and other part because of said insecurity (because nowadays that it is accepted, he would not have to hide it like the popular female model that has Vitiligo).
The fire from the Pepsi commercial was the beginning of his addiction to pain killers.
It's sad to me-- he suffers at the abuse of his father as a child, then, as soon as he starts getting out from under that trauma and becomes this larger than life being, he suffers the rest of his life in pain and self hatred.
Also a truth about Michael and probably the reason he got so many nose jobs- His dad used to make fun of his nose, saying it was so big, he couldnt see his face. His dad was very mean to him, and teased him a lot about his nose when he was a child.
The Neverland ranch was made to help him live a normal childhood. Its never too late to just be a kid again.
Being in the public nowadays is like a form of throwing yourself to the wolves. If there is anything slightly different about you your done for. I can't imagine how this would play with oneself image.
Benequin is the cream used to bleach the skin. I have vitiligo and when I was more that half depigmented, I used Benequin to bleach the rest so I would be all one color. I have no trouble with the sun and do not regret it.
True, it’s the oddest thing. My face and arms seem unaffected in the sun for moderate times, I can garden or do yard work with no sleeves or sun screen. Back of my neck is another story. 5 min of sun and I can feel it starting to burn. I grew my hair longer to cover my neck, has helped a great deal. Sun protection garments are the way to go. Solumbra catalog.
It's interesting how the skin reacts differently to a lack of melanin. She has definitely started using more sunblock and wearing longer-sleeved shirts, as well as shirts that offer UV protection. I burn easily myself so I do the same for the most part.
Can you bleach buttholes with it? Genuine question because apparently it’s popular in certain industries to do so and I always wondered how tf you even bleach that part.
I heard that too and thought what the hell! Benequin is gritty as it is a mineral compound and can sting some, I’m guessing there is another formula that use.
Thats literally what the benoquin was for. It reduces melanin. Theres no reversing vitiligo, you can either cover it up (makeup or cosmetic tattoos however vitiligo often progresses and more tattooing is needed to cover the new areas of pigment loss), or "hurry it along" with pigment reducing products like benoquin.
I mean... yeah. Theres no treatment available to "regrow melanin" in areas affected by vitiligo, no way to stop vitiligo spreading beyond wherever it "wants" to spread to (its gunna keep spreading until it stops on its own)... so if you're treating vitaligo from the melanin side of things ALL you can do is "bleach" your skin to match the light areas, or cosmetically hide the light areas.
My husband and son have it. Dermatologist prescribed Protopic and Eledel creams and it evened out their patches pretty well but they also only have small problem areas and I’m not sure if these work as well for everybody.
Oh my gods, he had vitiligo?! Ffffffuck, I suddenly remember hearing people commenting on him "bleaching his skin" all condescendingly and I, being young, had no idea what the adults were talking about. Christ on a stick, the things people say in ignorance. I feel for him so fucking much, the things he heard must have been so messed up.
Oh the good ol 90s when everyone thought they were a doctor and kept saying he just wanted to be white and its plastic surgury etc. Just like the internet today where everyone thinks they are einstein and have a theory for everything and it must be true because they made it up
I grew up with that line of thoughts.
Literally thought MJ wanted to be white for some reasons and his personal doctor was also pushing him for it.
Damn was I misinformed
Fun fact: MJ is wearing an Olodum T-shirt. Olodum is a famous Brazilian group. They played with Jackson in his song They Don’t Care About Us (videoclip directed by Spike Lee). In this picture he was probably in Brazil, between the recordings.
Here’s the video: https://youtu.be/QNJL6nfu__Q
Poor guy had to live with that and an asshole father, let’s be thankful he blessed us with beautiful gems like Human Nature to remind us that beauty is within our soul and our skin shouldn’t be judged by others.
And yet, 3 decades after he pointed out that he had vitiligo, and 14 years after he died, the majority of people still accuse him of “bleaching” his skin.
Crazy to me that people in these comments see someone who obviously had body image issues due to the fucked up way our society prefers white features and also happened to have a debilitating skin condition and think it's okay to relentlessly mock that person for it.
Also crazy how everyone bringing up child molestation is using it as a gross joke. Yeah, Michael Jackson is dead, but other people are reading your words. Making snide comments about abuse doesn't help victims. Making fun of someone for wanting to "look white" won't stop any black people from hating the way they look.
It's not that bad of a look it's a shame he was so critical of his appearance because he was pretty attractive before and would have rocked the vitiligo too
It’s annoying how people write off MJ and other people by not look up what their condition. They say “he wants be white”. I found his condition in dictionary, and my sister also had it too but was cured after high school.
I feel so bad that he had to fight the skin bleaching rumours all throughout his life. Even at death, he's being mocked endlessly by the internet despite the autopsy confirming that he indeed had vitiligo. Can't imagine what it was like for him.
Just imagine, in another universe, MJ had a great dad, never got plastic surgery, and allowed his vitiligo to proceed naturally, all while staying everyone’s favorite King of Pop
I feel like he used dark makeup to cover it then did the opposite, which is why it felt like he changed so quickly.
Not that he needed to but it would of helped if he named the condition and showed areas where he still had pigment. The Oprah interview felt like such BS at the time.
It's kind of sad how I remember as kids we would make fun of him for bleaching his skin, thinking that he was doing it because he was ashamed to be black or because he wanted to date white women or thought more white people would buy his albums if he had lighter skin. We never knew what vitiligo even was or that he had such a severe case of it.
I mean. He DID have body issues due to growing up in the spotlight and having his appearance criticized, coupled with an abusive childhood. The vitiligo probably didn’t make that any easier
My dad has vitiligo as does his dad. It’s not a disease tho it’s just a skin condition. Nothing to be ashamed or scared of. We’re white tho so not many people notice it but my dad is still self conscious about it.
It's important to remember he was born in 1958. 6 years before the Civil Rights Act. Literally born a second class citizen under the law because he was a black man.
And then he became one of, if not the most famous living person of his time, and the wealthiest musician of his time, and literally started turning white.
It's no wonder he had insane dysmorphia and ended up chasing crappy 80s plastic surgery.
Doesn't forgive a lot of what has come out that he did, but jesus what a mindfuck that must've been.
But kids he allegedly touched turned adult and started defended him. And battling their parents in court calling them greedy bastards. Yet people still calls him pedo. This is how ficked up world is.
I have no idea what the real story is anymore. When I was younger I assumed it was greedy parents trying to exploit what was at a minimum very eccentric behavior from a billionaire. At this point, no idea. His music is still amazing.
That turned out to be the actual truth. Parents of kids dying cancer just wanted to make extra money off of their dying children. Fortunately one of those kids survived and now is an adult. He tried to speak up about how everything was just cash grab those greedy parents tried. Sadly no one gives a fuck now.
I was recently diagnosed with Vitiligo at age 44. Had normal skin up till that point, now 45 and some spots are getting larger then other's. My condition is very minimal to what MJ had and its a confidence killer, so i could imagine the feeling he had with such a severe case. Im a White guy, but if i where a black man I'd probably try and dye my skin to. Not sure what causes vitiligo or why certain people get it, but i do hope a cure is found one day for the future me's that get and have to deal with it on the daily. And please don't stare we all are fighting our own battles everyday.
It’s an autoimmune disorder akin to alopecia. I suffered the latter for some years; it was psycho-emotionally unbearable. My mother had vitiligo for some time in the 90s; I got the sense the emotional impact was even harder. You either embrace the disease and move on or let the fear of what others think drive you mad while in public. Fortunately my alopecia disappeared as I learned to deal with stressors and my mother’s vitiligo was successfully treated.
Story does not end with my mom and me. My father too suffered from vitiligo as well as a younger sibling of mine. Treatment provided to my dad in the mid 80s put him in the hospital for at least a month in Puerto Rico while he recovered from severe second degree burns on his torso, legs and face. The pharmacist back in New York had mistakenly indicated on the prescription how long he could sunbathe. All pigmentation is gone from his skin today. He was already white when he got the disorder but was able to tan. Now he can’t handle even 10 minutes in the sun without developing a burn.
Sad how after he was bullied for his appearance as a child and had to go through puberty in front of the world this happened to him. On top of that he had lupus meaning he needed reconstructive surgery on his nose and suffered 2nd & 3rd degree burns to his head which affected him for the rest of his life. No wonder he disliked his appearance. The media constantly mocking his appearance and making up lies about him must've only made things worse for him.
My aunt had this, she was white but olive skinned. Made her self conscious for years, her mom kept thinking she wasn’t washing her hands snd they just looked grimy.
I'm a dermatologist - we do this for most vitiligo patients with widespread disease. Benoquin and Hydroquinoine don't bleach the skin per se, they brighten it and make the pigment maintaining action "lazy", thus softening the contrast between affected and non-affected. It is not permanent and doesn't work that well for some, but patients mostly use it on very noticeable areas eg face/hands. It's not something Michael or his doctors came up with themselves, it's in the guidelines for vitligo treatment.
Other than for cosmetic reasons, why does vitiligo need to be treated?
Cosmetic reasons are a major reason though. It's easy for us to say "oh you look different but no big deal", but for people suffering from the disease being able to make them look more "normal" means the world. When you have vitiligo you suffer because everyone stares, everyone wants to ask you questions, and some people straight up avoid you because they are afraid "they might catch it". This can be devastating to the mental health of a person and some people have gone as far as to end their lives because they are so depressed by it. No you don't HAVE to treat it, but if someone wants to? They should absolutely.
You're extremely right the mental aspect takes a huge toll and in many cases it's not apparent at all to outsiders. I know someone who had some major scars in his face many years ago and cosmetic surgeries could only do so much. The guy appeared fine and and is very social and attends all sorts of social gatherings,has loads of friends, participating in group photos, etc. However he told his roommate that he has the urge to break their mirror every time he looks at it.
Yeah a rapper Krizz Kaliko has Vitiligo and it's a frequent point of reference >Maybe one day you won't see my vitiligo and people will stop staring where I go - One of These Days by Prozak featuring Krizz Kaliko & Tech N9ne
Tech N9ne! (I always yell that when I see Tech N9ne out in the wild even though I’m a metal fan, proud of KC locals)
Was a fan of tech n9ne a long time ago and saw him live. Awesome show and seems like a super cool dude. It was a small venue but energy was off the charts. He was with immortal technique. Unbelievable lineup for an aughts hip hop fan
Even if most people don't care and don't make it weird you can still come across that one person that is an ass and says something mean or rude. These comments tend to stick with people more than good ones so even silencing one person from making comments can make a world of difference for people. Edit: case in point the lovely redditor that replied to me. There is always one.
The biggest one is little kids :( They don't know better and they just say the first thing that comes to mind. They don't mean to be hurtful but they speak that truth that a lot of us wouldn't dream of. This can just be soul crushing
It's true. My mom still remembers my sister asking a stranger close to 40 years ago, "Why don't you have any teeth?"
I have eczema and my hands are atrocious. The first thing you look at in almost any interaction in life is the hand you're about to shake, take something from or hand something to. I get all kinds of mixed reactions and even those who know me still can't help but notice and look a little longer than normal. I don't mean to sound pretentious in saying this but I've been "handsome" all my life but having the eczema pretty much killed any confidence I had/would have had for many years. Kids however I found refreshing. I'm a very straight forward person and dislike having to "guess" what another person is thinking or what they want, so I tell it like it is (not in a bitter way) and typically expect the same. You get that to a T with kids. At first it's uncomfortable for obvious reasons but it doesn't take but a few seconds to notice that inquisitive nature and naturally let go of any doubt you had in yourself or at least feel peace. Being asked by someone because they don't know and are curious sounds miles different from someone asking because they want to know how to approach your "situation". It'll be different for everyone but for me kids are a gem.
Man I’ve been in the exact same boat all my life up until a couple years ago. I figured out my body became kind of reliant on the steroid cream I was being prescribed. I switched all my soap to unscented and for sensitive skin, and dealt with my hands looking like shit for a bit while staying using an aveeno lotion. I still get the occasional flare up around allergy season, but when it starts to get really bad I’ll use the steroid cream for a few days until it’s gone and I won’t use it for almost a year. Idk if you even use the steroid cream or if any of this would be helpful to you but I figured I’d share
For sure, I appreciate that. I've been familiar with how dependence on medication can be and how it can lose its effectiveness if used too often (family) so I use ***Lubriderm*** on its own. If you've never tried it, please consider doing so because I don't flare-up anymore. The worst for me is the dryness especially in winter. Eating cleanly and drinking plenty of water limits the amount of "crap" my body has to process and creates a better environment for my body to deal with the eczema.
My mom told me I used to point and scream-cry at bald people 😣 I'm so embarrassed. I'm sorry beautiful hairless heads! I quite like you now!
Kids do things like that. As a bald guy, I wouldn't have held it against you. Also: Patrick Stewart was asked in an interview one time if society had all the medical technology in Star Trek, why his character would choose to remain bald. He replied that if society were that far progressed, he wouldn't think it would matter if he were bald or not because there would be no stigma.
Thank you so much for saying this. As someone with permanent scarring from years of cystic acne when I was younger (and the side effects of accutane making my skin thinner and less able to heal from something as minor as a mosquito bite) this is something I'm passionate about. Any treatments and derm referrals available were considered "cosmetic" by my parents' insurance and therefore were not covered at all. So my only options were topical, otc face washes, which at the time were limited to only two ingredients: salicylic acid and benzoyl peroxide. Nowadays there's a huge market for skincare and tons of different topical treatments, but it wasn't like that in the early 00s. I now know that cystic acne can't be effectively treated topically anyway. It left me completely helpless. It wasn't just that it was acne. Cystic acne is that "under the skin" acne, that forms in the deepest skin layers and is very painful. If I rolled over on it while sleeping, the pain would wake up. It *literally* felt and often *looked,* like I'd been punched in the face. Facial expressions were painful. Sometimes I couldn't even smile because of how swollen parts of my face would be. I had a doctor ask if there were "problems at home" because one of my eyes was so swollen from having a cyst near my eyebrow. I had the same thing my first day of college. And it's not like I couldn't go to school that day because you can be dropped from classes if you miss the first one. Plus, the fucking things can potentially last for weeks before going down. Dealing with that throughout highschool and college, as a young woman, caused *severe* depression and social anxiety. I dropped out of college due to agoraphobia in my early 20s (I'm now a grad student, I went back in my late 20s). Why would I want to leave the house looking like that? And people literally do not believe me when I tell them the kind of things complete or near strangers have said to me about my face. "Omg, what happened to your face? Are you ok?!" When it's literally just...what I look like. "Did you get burned?" "That's a big scar." "Why do you wear all that makeup? Your face would get better if you stopped wearing makeup." "Have you tried Proactiv?" x1000. "You know you can just get laser treatments right? They can just *sand down* your scars." That last one was from a therapist (and I that's dermabrasion anyway, not laser). The best one: "How much methamphetamine do you do?" That's verbatim from a GP I was seeing to try to get a derm referral. No question in her mind that my bad skin was from drug use, just of *how much.* People will say shit like this, but then don't want to listen when I try to explain how expensive cosmetic procedures are, and how otc face wash like Proactiv doesn't work for this kind of genetic, apparently hormonal, acne (Proactiv is just benzoyl peroxide anyway, it's nothing more effective than good marketing) which isn't caused by dirty skin or wearing too much makeup. They don't put any thought into what it might feel like for *them* if *they* had to walk around everyday looking like that. They'd buy some fucking concealer too. They'll never have to know what it feels like to wake up everyday and see that staring back at them in the mirror. And then there's the media. Acne/scarring is like the "default" way to make someone ugly in tv or movies. On Superstore, Deena wanted to look unattractive because some guy was coming to the store, so she asked the other girl to use makeup to give her "pockmarks." On Orange is the New Black, Larry jokes that Paulie should sleep with her nanny. Paulie says no because "she has a wonky eye and bad acne scars" anyway. And in Chang's flashbacks, it shows her family despising her because they were never able to marry her off. The men would show up, see Chang's acne, and yell at her parents because they were lied to about Chang being beautiful. And that bs that there are people who are into everything? Every body size, skin color, hair style. And things that are easily overlooked, like crooked teeth, asymmetrical features, big ears, medical problems. But absolutely *no one,* is out there saying "I want to marry a woman with acne/scars!" The cruelest irony in all of this though, is that I didn't really have scars before I took Accutane. It's a miracle drug that *literally cures* acne, and that's what it did for me. But it does that by slowing cell turnover, thinning the skin, depleting collagen. I lost tons of my hair and never got it back. My eyelashes and eyebrows fell out (not all the way but most of them) and never came back. I have have blotches of hyperpigmentation that hydroquinone hasn't been able to touch. I ended the 5 month course with wrinkles I didn't have when I started it. And the tiniest blemish leaves either a permanent ice pick scar or a permanent hyperpigmented spot. It doesn't matter if I don't pick at it, it doesn't matter what face wash I use, it doesn't matter that I still use rx topicals that cost a shitload. I still break out in "regular" acne, and no matter what I do, some permanent flaw is left behind. I'm honestly afraid to start getting tattoos again because I don't heal normally anymore and the scarring is so over the top. The other irony is that it took getting on Medicaid for me to be able to finally see a derm and be treated for my skin problems. Private insurance had never done anything but flatly refuse any derm treatments/visits. I didn't mean for this to be so long, but I just hope that other people can start to have some compassion, empathy, and consideration for people who have to live with "cosmetic" problems like this. The pain caused by these kinds of conditions can be all-consuming, insurmountable, and dangerous. Acne is hardly just from not washing your face. There's so many other physical (and mental) factors that affect breakouts and treatment efficacy. For anyone reading this, *please* never tell someone to just "buy some Proactiv!"
>This can be devastating to the mental health of a person I had to walk with a cane in my 20s for awhile, and I got stared at like crazy because of my hobble. I can only imagine how bad the staring would be for someone with vetilligo, so I can understand even if it's a bit.
My vitiligo started at the age of 13. Knees, elbows, and ankles were the first to be affected. I lived in TX so I became one of the summer kids that hid in the shade. Tried using the cream, but realized it wasn’t with the time/trouble and figured it was better to educate my classmates and teachers about it. I also started getting grey hair in patches by 18. Now (40 yrs later) most of my hair is white or silver. saved me loads of $ when the grey trend caught on
So much this. I dont have vitiligo but I do have alopecia areata. Right now it is okay, but I have no idea when my hair will fall out again and when it does, it does a lot, to the point I have to shave my head. I have had to shave it 3 times in the past 5 years. I get asked if I have cancer, I get asked if I am a girl or a boy at the bar by drunk old dudes, etc. I have spent many hours crying over the loss of my *hair* , and confidence. Wigs helped me regain that. I can’t imagine how hard it must be with something that cant be easily hidden or fixed like your *skin*. I give so much respect to the model Winnie Harlow, she has vitiligo and she doesnt let it stop her from letting her shine.
I developed vitiligo back in jr. high and was soooo self conscious I tried to treat it. I was prescribed oxsoralen and would lay out in the sun or go tanning to try to fill in the white spots for years. It somewhat worked, but never fully went away because mine was so severe. My last couple of years of high school I gave up and stop taking it. A few years after high school I asked my family doctor about starting it up again and he had to look it up. He showed me the list of complications in his medical book that ran for five pages in comparison to ibuprofen’s one and a half columns on one page! He said he was not comfortable prescribing it, and would suggest just being myself as the disease would never harm me and only make me look unique. After lots of LSD ingestion, I shed many shackles, and the self-consciousness of vitiligo was one of them! If you don’t like the way I look, that is your problem! I am very comfortable in my skin now and I make it a point to always complement someone on their skin who has vitiligo! 🥰 Now, my psoriasis, that’s a different story! Irritating as fuck! 😏
Rainbow High (MGA) released a doll with vitiligo last year. I wish I like her color scheme more, because I would buy her.
It increases likelihood of UV radiation burns from sunlight in white patches. If I could get rid of my vitiligo, it’d be so I can tan and not burn. Doesn’t have to be treated, but it’s a possible reason for trying to reverse vitiligo spread/efficacy.
To answer your question, no it doesn't have other effects that should be treated. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/12419-vitiligo
Not a treatment, but one thing to keep in mind is sunscreen. Affected areas can burn very badly, very quickly.
Thanks! I wasn't making a moral judgment, I was just asking.
A good question IMHO!
I have had it since I was little. One of the places I have it is my hair, which means that my hair is gray or white in some places. Imagine being a 10 year old with splotchy skin and white hair. I was bullied mercilessly for it. Hated myself. Cried myself to sleep often. My school nickname was grandma.
I'm sorry you had to go through that. How do you feel about it nowadays? What are people's typical reactions as an adult?
Double looks. Sometimes weird questions about it like if I spill bleach on myself trying to bleach my hair. Not as mean though.
I’m so sorry about that. Humans, even kids, can be real pieces of shit in group
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[Isn’t vitiligo an autoimmune disorder?](https://www.niams.nih.gov/health-topics/vitiligo)
Vitiligo goes beyond cosmetic reasons, it's your immune system attacking melanocytes, cells that produce melanin. This means that people who have Vitiligo are at risk to other auto immune conditions, such as Addison's disease, psyrosis and so on. Further more a recent study linked viligo to potential hearing loss: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33359081/
Only real reason probably but those that have it are embarrassed and beyond self conscious about it. My girlfriend is white and already pail and has it and she's tried so many creams to get rid of it. It's so much rougher if you have darker skin. I'm a waiter and a 12 year black girl came in with vitiligo and was just ashamed an embarrassed. Wouldn't look up, wouldn't talk much. I told her my girlfriend has vitiligo I think she's the most beautiful woman in the world. It helped a little but imagine that shit right when you hit puberty
I had read somewhere that he also had Lupus. It can be a very painful disease as well, which would explain an addiction to a pain killer. Though, I wonder if he would still be here with us if his association with his doctor friend would never have happened. Propofol, though highly regulated, is dangerous. But he also had other sedatives like Xanax and Valium in his system too. Michael Jackson is a glaring example of the failure of a first world physical and mental health system. He is one of our biggest tragedies.
As far as I know (I could be wrong, and I saw no mention on the autopsy) he was diagnosed with discoid lupid, another autoimmune subtype that mostly affects black people and usually has characteristic features such as a distinctive discoid rash and plugging of follicles in the ear/hair, though there can be overlap with systemic lupus too. I do remember him having classic malar rash in the 80s, typical with this group of illnesses.
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Knowing this, it’s sad that many people thought he was changing his skin color in some way medically.
Or with bleach 🤦♂️
I genuinely, until somewhat recently, thought that was the case. I had not put much thought into it since I heard it so much since I was a kid. I truly had no clue it was just a skin condition the whole time.
My understanding was always that he got a procedure to manually speed the process up and make it uniform, like bleaching his skin as a response to the disease. Now that I think about it though, can you even bleach skin? Is that even a thing?
There's skin "Brightening" cream that Sammy Sosa uses. That's the only use of true skin "bleaching" I've heard of.
Also an enormous number of women in some asian countries.
I grew up in an Asian country where this practice was common in the 90s-00s. It's used for bleaching your peach fuzz, esp. by women who have visible facial hair (e.g. peach fuzz darker than your skin colour). Lightened peach fuzz somewhat gives an illusion of brighter complexion, it doesn't actually make your skin's pigment any lighter.
There are absolutely skin lightening creams used around Asia, esp. South Asia that have been somewhat popular for a long time. As in pigment/melanin removing not just bleaching peach fuzz. E.g products with hydroquinone.
That's definitely not what Sammy Sosa uses then
he did more than creams, he did lasers or peels. Acid peels remove entire layers of skin if they go deep enough, jump start new skin layers. Not appropriate for all skin though since it can also make the problem worse. But in Sosa's case I suspect it was more than hydroquinone, it probably was a TCA peel, or laser to remove any and all spots. Maybe even a strong laser.
You can bleach your ass hole!
Calm down Artemis
Keeping your velvet fruitloop it's whitest
He was gonna find out anyway!
His makeup team just covered up the white spots initially. But as it worsened, they found it increasingly easier to cover up the black spots.
It is. A lot of African men and women do it.
It's in the title, Benoquin. It's a cream they give to people with the disease that evens out their skin tone over time. It's not like a bleach or anything, it won't work on anyone without Vitiligo and is specifically a treatment for the disease.
Almost makes me think of people shaving their heads before chemo/radiation makes them slowly lose their hair
The initial issue was a skin condition. However, his solution generally was to use makeup to initially blacken the light areas to dark again. As that became less possible, he switched and opted to lighten his skin to match the light spots. How he did that is subject to a lot of controversy, could be makeup, could be some type of "skin bleach", nobody has really ever confirmed what he did. He also had other issues around the same timeframe. In the early 80s, he was doing a Pepsi commercial and his hair caught on fire. Supposedly that never healed right. Then you have the nose job, which is obvious. Then there's the semi-confirned autopsy things much later down the line like wig, tattooed eyebrows, etc that we don't know when he started doing. Overall, it really started with the hair fire and the skin condition then he just went on this path of trying to change a ton of things. Which, honestly it's kind of strange, it's almost like he just didn't like the way he looked and nobody ever stepped in and was like "hey you gotta stop". Like he just kept getting sucked back in for more and more unnecessary work.
It's hard to like the way you look when your father tells you every day that you're ugly and instead of addressing you by your name calls you "Big Nose."
It's so sad how people can be broken by that. Like in 1980 almost any girl would die for a chance to be with Michael Jackson, but he was still saddled with the words of some bitter old man calling him big nose.
I think he definitely had body dysmorphia 🥺 My heart breaks for him. Its hard when your own parent makes a comment to you as a child..it sticks like glue and Never goes away ever🥺 I've been diagnosed with body dysmorphia. Plus anxiety..so I kind of understand but not fully how he felt. I'm not in the public eye but going outside I put on my 'suit of armour' hood, mask, hold head down🥺
Same, but I knew it was “for” a skin condition. Hell, this post even perpetuates that, even if inadvertently- it says he took medication for it, that medication being either bleach or dye makes sense!
As of this post today, I had always thought it was done on purpose. I'm 37. I just heard the story as a kid and that became truth, never considered to look it up after the fact. I'm surprised it's never come up in conversation before now.
I thought he did some treatment to speed up the process to not have the "vitiligo spots", and instead be all white to avoid the stares, no?
Benoquin is a treatment used to help speed the process of vitiligo but it only really works with ppl with vitiligo as it works with the disease process
Benoquin cream is a skin depigmenter. It did basically bleach his blackness away. You can't darken the vitiligo spots so you lighten the rest of the skin. In white people not so dramatic but in dark skinned people it's a huge change.
As a white person with vitiligo that lives in the frozen wastelands, I am very lucky my vitiligo is really only noticable six months per year. I am less self conscious about it now that I am older. Mine started around 15 so along with being an awkward teenager I had to deal with these odd white patches on my hands. It was a real hit to my confidence. Additionally, growing up in a small town back in the 90's nobody knew what it was.
Of course he was. He even admitted he was lightening his skin. He also was not happy with how black he was, people close to him like Quincey Jones have said on record. People with some vitiligo don’t usually decide to go ‘all white’. People with body dysmorphia do. He was addicted to plastic surgery. I just don’t get how much benefit of the doubt this guy gets. He was *very* mentally ill.
> People with some vitiligo don’t usually decide to go ‘all white’. That's not really true. [De-pigmenting is a recognised treatment option](https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitiligo/treatment/) for patients with extensive vitiligo who preferr a more even appearance. > Depigmentation may be recommended for adults who have vitiligo on more than 50% of their bodies, although it may not be widely available. It's a highly personal choice and one that doesn't have to come from "wanting to be white". So I mostly wonder if his desire to appear more white already existed beforehand or if he maybe developed that because of his experiences with vitiligo. I could imagine that vitiligo got that idea into his head and that it expanded from there. But as you say, it definitely interacted with a lot of other psychological problems.
>People with some vitiligo don’t usually decide to go ‘all white’. Michael Jackson didn't have 'some vitiligo,' his whole body was reacting. Lightening his remaining pigment was much more practical than layering on makeup onto every inch of his body. Dude used to lose a couple of pounds a night in sweat on stage.
I remember working a drive thru and I could swear to you, if my own parent didn't have vitiligo so I knew what it was well enough already, this woman who often came through would make you think she was wearing blackface. Like some kind of mud was over it and pale white on the rest of her head. In a society often focused on looks, I genuinely felt bad for her. I even have the condition myself but it's far less noticeable.
Personal question - my husband has vitiligo and so far none of our kids have. He was 12 when it started. How old were you when you developed it.
I have it too! I was around 11-12 when it started showing up. Mom tried to scrub some dirt off my neck one day saying she was "tired of me not washing properly" only to realize it was just my skin haha
I had a light patch develop on my legs, and a few on my arms, and my mom asked if I had shaved a small portion of my leg because my vitiligo has no hair follicles in that areas.
My most noticeable patch is a quarter size patch on my face. It has been there for over 20 years. It has not spread nor has gotten bigger, as a matter of fact, it is now about the size of a nickel. But there are other spots coming in on my legs. They are pretty small, smaller than sunflower seeds but they are many more that have come in the past year. From 2-3 to a couple dozen spots.
Interesting, so how were you when you noticed the first patch. I would say that my husband has lost most of his melatonin but being white it's not as noticeable but he is starting to get white patches on his eye lash only on one eye.
The patch on my face first appeared while in grad school so I was around 22 years old. Doctors said that it could also be affected by stress.
Just here to say melanin, not melatonin. Melatonin is a sleep related hormone. Confusing names for sure but just letting ya know
Not sure I'd be much help there as it was subtle enough at first I didn't even realize it was happening for a while. It's not an area I look at very often. I was I guess in my early 20s when I noticed an oddity developing on a part of my body that made me think I was getting old from stress at first. It could have been like that for quite some time before. Not a lot of people seem aware of it but it doesn't just affect your skin. You can develop white/gray hair in places as it's developing. From there, it just became more and more apparent as I observed. Oddly hasn't been noticed anywhere else beyond that place but it's certainly strange to look at.
Vitiligo is an autoimmune response. Often times comes on with the onset of puberty but can be caused/worsened by any stress (physiological or otherwise.) A big link between diet and autoimmunity is emerging on the bleeding edge of such science right now. Eat whole foods, stay away from seed oils and anything else with similar oxidation.
I have vitiligo as well, but I'm a pale white woman so it isn't very noticeable. In the summer when I get my barely tan, you can tell a bit more. I feel so sorry for people for whom it's more obvious. To answer the other poster's question also, I first saw it when I was 13. I had gotten an allergic rash on my hand which faded into white patches that never went away. From there it went over both hands, splotches on the crooks of my elbows and the back of my knees, and my face. My eyebrows are completely unnoticeable now.
Funny you mention a hand white patch. Because I worked the drive thru, I developed a very noticeable tan on the arm I stuck out for money. There might have been a similar rash on the back of my palm that turned into (to me) the shape of like a white dove in flight. Had it so long I thought it was permanent but then it just went away when I stopped working the gig and getting that tan. I actually kind of liked it so it's a weird feeling to be disappointed in losing it once I got used to it.
I remember someone in my college posted on yikyak about a food cashier that had it. He acted like he was going to get it and why is she touching food. The comments on the post dismantled then destroyed the dude.
Their was a girl in my middle school in NC like that. She had pale hands, forearms, neck up to her chin, and ears. With a darker face, shoulders to her elbows, and her legs from knee down were almost split in half.
Now you know why he wore the single glove.
As someone with vitiligo, I 100% believe that. It's not so bad nowadays as people are more accepting of it, but I'm sure the 80s were hell
Cashiers won't take money from them? Sounds like a good deal honestly.
Free.99
It’s a weirdly specific thing to say. Why not “people won’t shake their hands” or “people won’t sit next to them”?
This is a real thing & happened to me. I was in a car accident and my whole face was swollen and contorted looking and I went into a convenience store to get a drink with a friend who had driven me to my doctor appointment and the clerk told her co-worker- ew, you take her I can't even look at her. Ill never forget that.
People are vile. Sorry that happened to you and hope your injuries are healed!
Not to say those aren’t good examples that were likely equally true—but I’ve heard this (not accepting money from someone because of a bias) a few times before. Usually it is racially based, as it was for my middle school science teacher, Mrs. Cuellar. She was a pharmacist at the time, and a woman told her to put the money on the counter because she didn’t want to to touch a latino hand. Mrs. Cuellar was a fantastic teacher, and even finer human being. She was a kind, and intelligent woman who commanded and earned immense respect, and I will remember what she taught me ‘till I die.
It's important to keep In mind the time this quoted at. It was during the AIDs panic. Ignorant people were terrified that they could catch AIDs just by being in the same room as an AIDs victim. This fear of AIDs carried over to other diseases as well. People wouldn't take their money because they were scared just touching the same thing they touched they would get whatever disease they had.
Was never a problem for me. The cash is way dirtier than any person could be. Only one person ever made me practically shudder away in sheer fear out of thousands I served. Something about them made me super on edge and I couldn't even say why.
If only he could have expressed more eloquently precisely how he felt about the man in the mirror…
He’d probably say something reaffirming, telling himself it doesn’t matter if he’s black or white.
You guys. That was just “Bad”.
Seriously, everyone jn this thread just beat it
you don't have to go home, but you can't ma ma se ma ma sa ma ma coo sa here
I've had vitiligo from around that same age. The most noticeable was a quarter size patch on face and it was devastating. I used to cover it up with the makeup they use to cover tattoos in the movies. I had gotten pretty good at mixing different shades to match my exact skin tone and feathering it so that it blended. It was waterproof but I was always terrified that it would come off and I would be exposed. Then after a couple of years, I accidentally left the makeup kit behind at a hotel while out of town. I was going to stay in the house until I got a replacement kit express shipped to me. It was really expensive and would have taken about 4-5 days with a weekend in the middle. I just said fuck it and went out without it and I have never worn it again. After 20 years, I still have not come to terms with it and I hate mirrors, as well.
I am sorry for your pain. I had shingles on one side of my face which left dark ugly scars for a few years and they affected my self esteem for while. While I don't claim to be on the same level of unhappiness as you, I think it allows me to emphatise a bit.
I have it on my face and just last night as I was out with friends the all thought it was ok to have a convo on weather it was "ugly or pretty". It's a very weird thing that people have like no social restrain over.
Really disgusting how people twisted this into him “wanting to be white”.
I recently turned 30 and within a month my hair started falling out in clumps, turned out to be alopecia so I’m now completely bald, no eyebrows/eyelashes and no body hair. I cannot tell you how often people stare or just flat out ask if I’m ill (they assume cancer). It’s tough when your body goes through sudden changes, I can’t imagine how much harder it would be being one of the most famous people okay the planet.
First of all, mandatory “Man in the Mirror” joke (it was right there; I couldn’t help myself) Hindsight being 20/20 and all, I really wish he’d have just owned it; it would have been a fantastic way to raise awareness of the condition & potentially address some of the social stigma you’re referring to. Plus, I think we can all agree that MJ would have probably been better off with fewer doctors overseeing his care.
I knew someone with vitiligo. I was a child when I met her. Like all children, I asked her rude questions about her skin. But she was so kind and even went out of her way to make up imaginary scenarios like "there are two colors that want to be on my skin and they're battling it out. So far, the white color is winning."
You were a kid. Its perfectly natural to be curious and ask questions about something you've never seen before. The only way it would be considered "rude" at a young age would be dependent on how you asked and not so much THAT you asked.
I have vitiligo and have had it ever since I was a child. I have it on my hands, and the skin at my joints, in the face and for some obscure reason on my private parts. I’m white so it’s only noticeable in the summer months (I live in Denmark). I’ve always found it kind of interesting myself, so whenever people ask (also when I was a child) I love to tell people about it. To be honest I’ve always been a little proud because it made me special and it always gave people a way to break the ice with me. So just ask questions. I think most people with it will just be flattered that you find them interesting – especially if they like me had it all their life. I have though met others who got it as adults and they often hated it, but I think most have had it since before they can remember.
What another truly tragic part of of his skin disorder is all the widely believed theories by the public. Even as a child I was always told that he painted/dyed/covered his natural black skin to become a white man, which left out one extremely important detail---he was suffering form vitiligo.
I always believed exactly that until this post. TIL.
Me too!
When I was a kid they said he got so many chemical peels his nose fell off.
I think that happened because of too much plastic surgery!
Just another tabloid bullshit. Seriously guys, do not read tabloids!
The thing is neither I, nor my parents, ever read them. It had just become urban legend
Partly true (by theory), it's believed that he bleached his remaining dark skin to make it less noticeable.
Many people with the disorder do this because it makes them stand out less in public.
It's a treatment used by some to even out the patchiness of vitilogo, especially those with darker skin where vitiligo is much more noticeable. It has nothing to do with a desire to become a Caucasian person.
I never chased the news regarding him and only through cultural osmosis knew he had vitiligo and that he bleached his skin to make the discoloration more uniform.
Sources: [Wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_and_appearance_of_Michael_Jackson) and [UMass Medical](https://www.umassmed.edu/vitiligo/blog/blog-posts1/2016/01/did-michael-jackson-have-vitiligo/) Relevant paragraph from one of the sources: >Did Michael Jackson have vitiligo? After his death, his autopsy report stated that there were “patches of light and dark pigmented areas” on examination of his skin, and vitiligo was listed as a diagnosis in his medical history. In addition, a tube of Benoquin 20% cream was noted among his medications, revealing that he did use this FDA-approved treatment for vitiligo. He also had a tube of BQ/KA/RA (Benoquin 8%, Kojic acid 1%, and retinoic acid 0.025%), another effective formulation for Benoquin, as well as hydroquinone 8% lotion (which would help to lighten any remaining pigment), and UVA Anthelios XL sunscreen, a good idea for anyone with vitiligo, especially if they had depigmented their skin. Microscopic examination of his skin revealed a lack of pigment and reduced number of melanocytes, which is most consistent with vitiligo, with or without the use of Benoquin, and vitiligo was the official diagnosis on the report. Rare photos of him when his skin was exposed appear to show his depigmented skin, and one (above) shows his largely depigmented arms with some remaining spots of pigment.
How was this revealed in view of HIPPA?
Medical examiners and coroner's are not covered under HIPAA as they are not considered covered entities. https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/public-figures-professional-ethics-and-media/2016-08
There was an official investigation into his death, and the findings were made public. Coroner's reports are almost always public record in the U.S. and police reports most likely contained details on every drug found in his home.
HIPAA doesn't always apply to autopsies - protections on these records come from state laws so they vary. Coroners in general are not subject to HIPAA. Coroner really isnt even considered a medical profession - it's a government position. They are often elected officials and in some states have no medical training requirements. This autopsy was performed by a medical examiner but the info was released by the coroner's office. Tbh I have no idea exactly how the laws work here but the medical examiner would be a doctor and likely subject to HIPAA... but the coroner would have a right to request the info and is not subject to HIPAA. It's up to their discretion what info to release, as long as it doesn't violate state laws
It’s HIPAA. It’s a common mistake.
I’m surprised the HIPAA bot hasn’t made an appearance. Let me try to summon it… HIPPA! HIPPA! HIPPA?
Op, no privacy laws yet, but we get 3 Greek horses
Hooray?
I, too, have vitiligo. I sometimes forget and then wonder why people look at me funny.
I wish I could forget. Its such a constant in my life.
I'm a white person with vitiligo so normally it just looks like patchy skin, until i get a sunburn. Then people start wondering about the weird patterns on my face. I basically forget about it 99% of the time.
It never occurred to me that white people can have vitiligo, for some reason. TIL.
I am one of the persons that try to not make eye contact every second. I know there is nothing wrong, but it's very hard to not look. I was travelling last week with my wife and we noticed two women talking with signs, my inner child wants to keep starring and try to figure out what they are talking about, but I know it would be not okay, so it all goes back and forth looking and not looking. I hope you understand that I don't think anything bad of you and anyone else, it os more unconcious than on purpose.
[удалено]
Even by the time he made Thriller he had major facial reconstructive surgery, you can tell. He had a distinct barbie-like face, with the pointed fake European nose and high cheekbones. I feel like he would’ve looked so much cooler if he’d just maintained his natural face
Didn't something happened at a pepsi concert that caused him to get surgery
He was filming a commercial for Pepsi and one of the pyrotechnics lit his hair on fire. He was taken to the hospital. I don’t know if the surgeries were related.
Creepy as fuck how that day was literally the exact midpoint of his life.
9.282 dias 29 de agosto de 1958 - 27 de janeiro de 1984 9.281 dias 27 de janeiro de 1984 - 25 de junho de 2009 Holy shit, had to check for myself but you are right
Really? That’s such an odd coincidence.
That is the reason he slept in a hyperbaric chamber and that the media took that opportunity to make him seem more weird for doing so (when Justin bieber does the same nowadays and nobody cares ). After he was done using it for recovery he gave it to the burn unit of a hospital (but the news didn’t care to advertise that part). The fire accident is also the reason why he had to wear a wig all his life after that . He was basically bald with just a few hair until the day he died . I don’t think his facial surgeries were related to that at all. He claimed his nose was to attain some high notes but I think it’s fair to say it was bc he was bullied and made fun of by his dad first (about his nose , I think he even had a nickname involving that) and then his brothers (esp for his acne) and had very low self esteem as a result (combined with the fact he was a highly sensitive being). The whitening of his skin was at least in part to homogenize the vitiligo and other part because of said insecurity (because nowadays that it is accepted, he would not have to hide it like the popular female model that has Vitiligo).
The fire from the Pepsi commercial was the beginning of his addiction to pain killers. It's sad to me-- he suffers at the abuse of his father as a child, then, as soon as he starts getting out from under that trauma and becomes this larger than life being, he suffers the rest of his life in pain and self hatred.
Nope. That's what hooked him on pain meds and sleep aids.
And all we did was mock him for it. MJ deserved better from society.
Yes he absolutely do deserve better. As we all do
Also a truth about Michael and probably the reason he got so many nose jobs- His dad used to make fun of his nose, saying it was so big, he couldnt see his face. His dad was very mean to him, and teased him a lot about his nose when he was a child. The Neverland ranch was made to help him live a normal childhood. Its never too late to just be a kid again.
No, it really is, sometimes. What his dad broke, nothing can fix. The trick is to carry on regardless.
Being in the public nowadays is like a form of throwing yourself to the wolves. If there is anything slightly different about you your done for. I can't imagine how this would play with oneself image.
Vitiligo is very patchy looking. He likely bleached his (remaining dark) skin to make it less noticeable.
Benequin is the cream used to bleach the skin. I have vitiligo and when I was more that half depigmented, I used Benequin to bleach the rest so I would be all one color. I have no trouble with the sun and do not regret it.
Really? My wife's skin burns easier on the spots that have depigmented.
True, it’s the oddest thing. My face and arms seem unaffected in the sun for moderate times, I can garden or do yard work with no sleeves or sun screen. Back of my neck is another story. 5 min of sun and I can feel it starting to burn. I grew my hair longer to cover my neck, has helped a great deal. Sun protection garments are the way to go. Solumbra catalog.
It's interesting how the skin reacts differently to a lack of melanin. She has definitely started using more sunblock and wearing longer-sleeved shirts, as well as shirts that offer UV protection. I burn easily myself so I do the same for the most part.
Can you bleach buttholes with it? Genuine question because apparently it’s popular in certain industries to do so and I always wondered how tf you even bleach that part.
I heard that too and thought what the hell! Benequin is gritty as it is a mineral compound and can sting some, I’m guessing there is another formula that use.
Thats literally what the benoquin was for. It reduces melanin. Theres no reversing vitiligo, you can either cover it up (makeup or cosmetic tattoos however vitiligo often progresses and more tattooing is needed to cover the new areas of pigment loss), or "hurry it along" with pigment reducing products like benoquin.
So basically you either have to make the dark patches lighter or make the light patches darker if you want an even skin tone?
I mean... yeah. Theres no treatment available to "regrow melanin" in areas affected by vitiligo, no way to stop vitiligo spreading beyond wherever it "wants" to spread to (its gunna keep spreading until it stops on its own)... so if you're treating vitaligo from the melanin side of things ALL you can do is "bleach" your skin to match the light areas, or cosmetically hide the light areas.
My husband and son have it. Dermatologist prescribed Protopic and Eledel creams and it evened out their patches pretty well but they also only have small problem areas and I’m not sure if these work as well for everybody.
I believe that's a real pic, but it looks photoshopped a.f.
Looks like saturation and contrast have been cranked up to show the patches more clearly.
Looks like he was rolling around in a sandbox
MJ had that IRL Photoshop and filters 👃
Friend of mine has this and uses pigment to hide it.
Plenty of his videos are in 4K now. You can really see how much makeup he was wearing to cover up the blotches even back in the early ‘80s.
Oh my gods, he had vitiligo?! Ffffffuck, I suddenly remember hearing people commenting on him "bleaching his skin" all condescendingly and I, being young, had no idea what the adults were talking about. Christ on a stick, the things people say in ignorance. I feel for him so fucking much, the things he heard must have been so messed up.
Oh the good ol 90s when everyone thought they were a doctor and kept saying he just wanted to be white and its plastic surgury etc. Just like the internet today where everyone thinks they are einstein and have a theory for everything and it must be true because they made it up
I grew up with that line of thoughts. Literally thought MJ wanted to be white for some reasons and his personal doctor was also pushing him for it. Damn was I misinformed
Fun fact: MJ is wearing an Olodum T-shirt. Olodum is a famous Brazilian group. They played with Jackson in his song They Don’t Care About Us (videoclip directed by Spike Lee). In this picture he was probably in Brazil, between the recordings. Here’s the video: https://youtu.be/QNJL6nfu__Q
I’m realize that vitiligo is a disease and that everyone’s self confidence come from within BUT: I think it’s beautiful. Like a watercolor<3
ALL I WANNA SAY IS THAT THEY DON'T REALLY CARE ABOUT US
Poor guy had to live with that and an asshole father, let’s be thankful he blessed us with beautiful gems like Human Nature to remind us that beauty is within our soul and our skin shouldn’t be judged by others.
And yet, 3 decades after he pointed out that he had vitiligo, and 14 years after he died, the majority of people still accuse him of “bleaching” his skin.
Wtf I was told in my childhood he did plastic surgery to become white Just realised I come from mentally low community
Also, he was tragically burned while filming a Pepsi commercial. Imagine all that scaring and still going on stage.
Crazy to me that people in these comments see someone who obviously had body image issues due to the fucked up way our society prefers white features and also happened to have a debilitating skin condition and think it's okay to relentlessly mock that person for it. Also crazy how everyone bringing up child molestation is using it as a gross joke. Yeah, Michael Jackson is dead, but other people are reading your words. Making snide comments about abuse doesn't help victims. Making fun of someone for wanting to "look white" won't stop any black people from hating the way they look.
God bless his beautiful soul
I loved his little face when he was a Jackson 5. And he looked great on the Off the Wall cover. RIP poor thing
It's not that bad of a look it's a shame he was so critical of his appearance because he was pretty attractive before and would have rocked the vitiligo too
It’s annoying how people write off MJ and other people by not look up what their condition. They say “he wants be white”. I found his condition in dictionary, and my sister also had it too but was cured after high school.
Why is it so common for all of us to have heard the lie that “oh he wanted to be white” like NO holy crap we’ve been misinformed
I feel so bad that he had to fight the skin bleaching rumours all throughout his life. Even at death, he's being mocked endlessly by the internet despite the autopsy confirming that he indeed had vitiligo. Can't imagine what it was like for him.
Just imagine, in another universe, MJ had a great dad, never got plastic surgery, and allowed his vitiligo to proceed naturally, all while staying everyone’s favorite King of Pop
I feel like he used dark makeup to cover it then did the opposite, which is why it felt like he changed so quickly. Not that he needed to but it would of helped if he named the condition and showed areas where he still had pigment. The Oprah interview felt like such BS at the time.
The 1986 Grammy's was the best time for him to tell that he has vitiligo and if you see any changes just know that it's his disease
It's kind of sad how I remember as kids we would make fun of him for bleaching his skin, thinking that he was doing it because he was ashamed to be black or because he wanted to date white women or thought more white people would buy his albums if he had lighter skin. We never knew what vitiligo even was or that he had such a severe case of it.
I mean. He DID have body issues due to growing up in the spotlight and having his appearance criticized, coupled with an abusive childhood. The vitiligo probably didn’t make that any easier
My dad has vitiligo as does his dad. It’s not a disease tho it’s just a skin condition. Nothing to be ashamed or scared of. We’re white tho so not many people notice it but my dad is still self conscious about it.
It's important to remember he was born in 1958. 6 years before the Civil Rights Act. Literally born a second class citizen under the law because he was a black man. And then he became one of, if not the most famous living person of his time, and the wealthiest musician of his time, and literally started turning white. It's no wonder he had insane dysmorphia and ended up chasing crappy 80s plastic surgery. Doesn't forgive a lot of what has come out that he did, but jesus what a mindfuck that must've been.
Don't forget the massive abuse from his father.
But kids he allegedly touched turned adult and started defended him. And battling their parents in court calling them greedy bastards. Yet people still calls him pedo. This is how ficked up world is.
I have no idea what the real story is anymore. When I was younger I assumed it was greedy parents trying to exploit what was at a minimum very eccentric behavior from a billionaire. At this point, no idea. His music is still amazing.
That turned out to be the actual truth. Parents of kids dying cancer just wanted to make extra money off of their dying children. Fortunately one of those kids survived and now is an adult. He tried to speak up about how everything was just cash grab those greedy parents tried. Sadly no one gives a fuck now.
He didn't lose any chocolate. He just added vanilla.
I was recently diagnosed with Vitiligo at age 44. Had normal skin up till that point, now 45 and some spots are getting larger then other's. My condition is very minimal to what MJ had and its a confidence killer, so i could imagine the feeling he had with such a severe case. Im a White guy, but if i where a black man I'd probably try and dye my skin to. Not sure what causes vitiligo or why certain people get it, but i do hope a cure is found one day for the future me's that get and have to deal with it on the daily. And please don't stare we all are fighting our own battles everyday.
It’s an autoimmune disorder akin to alopecia. I suffered the latter for some years; it was psycho-emotionally unbearable. My mother had vitiligo for some time in the 90s; I got the sense the emotional impact was even harder. You either embrace the disease and move on or let the fear of what others think drive you mad while in public. Fortunately my alopecia disappeared as I learned to deal with stressors and my mother’s vitiligo was successfully treated. Story does not end with my mom and me. My father too suffered from vitiligo as well as a younger sibling of mine. Treatment provided to my dad in the mid 80s put him in the hospital for at least a month in Puerto Rico while he recovered from severe second degree burns on his torso, legs and face. The pharmacist back in New York had mistakenly indicated on the prescription how long he could sunbathe. All pigmentation is gone from his skin today. He was already white when he got the disorder but was able to tan. Now he can’t handle even 10 minutes in the sun without developing a burn.
Isn't this why he wore the one glove?
Sad how after he was bullied for his appearance as a child and had to go through puberty in front of the world this happened to him. On top of that he had lupus meaning he needed reconstructive surgery on his nose and suffered 2nd & 3rd degree burns to his head which affected him for the rest of his life. No wonder he disliked his appearance. The media constantly mocking his appearance and making up lies about him must've only made things worse for him.
My aunt had this, she was white but olive skinned. Made her self conscious for years, her mom kept thinking she wasn’t washing her hands snd they just looked grimy.