Michael Jackson's vitiligo
The black singer attributes his bleaching to a disease, to the surprise of dermatologists
"But he is equally discolored!" "That is to be given potingues", comment some Spanish dermatologists surprised that the black singer Michael Jackson attributes his acquired whiteness to a disease called vitiligo. Because vitiligo, which only affects 1% of the population, produces patchy spots, surrounded by a darker halo and difficult to camouflage with makeup. For those who have no complex admitting they want to bleach, treatments are openly advertised even on the New York subway.
"I am proud to be a black American," the star of the song, Black, White? Michael Jackson declared recently in a program on the American television network ABC. And to somehow explain the evidence of his already almost ivory complexion, it only occurred to him to affirm that he suffers from a hereditary disease that bleaches his skin over time. Ah, he also said that he was afraid of operations and that is why he has only "retouched" his nose and chin. Surprised, Alicia Marqués, a dermatologist at the Ramón y Cajal hospital in Madrid, believes rather that Jackson's waxy face is a combination explosive cosmetic surgery and bulk use of skin lighteners. "There are some depigmenting substances, hydroquinones or derivatives, that are normally used to discolor small spots, such as lentigos or chloasma (the well-known cloth of the pregnant woman)," she comments.
These depigmenting products can be prepared in the desired concentration. Even making gels to spread over the entire body, as the dermatologist who has been the entertainment of the singer of Black or while for the last years supposes.
Advertisements in the subway
"What does he say he has what? ', Asks Ángel Simón Merchán, head of the dermatology service at the Puerta de Hierro clinic, for whom the possibility of lightening the skin" is something that is well known. "" It occurs spontaneously in some workers who manipulate substances with bleaching effects. "And he is by no means of the opinion that vitiligo develops as a result of the continued use of a depigmenting agent. The subject is so well known that there are large advertisements in the New York subway or in Boston They offer so overtly "skin whitening" like wart treatments or baby yogurts. But Jackson insists that he suffers from vitiligo. This disease, which affects only 1% of the world's population, appears suddenly. In 505% of cases, before the age of 20. It affects all races equally and is slightly more common in women.
Although it is not yet determined whether there is a genetic component, the truth is that most people with vitiligo have a family history. Latoya Jackson, who knew no precedent in her family, was amusedly surprised by the statements of her brother. It is known that this pathology is auntoimmune in nature, "and, as in other autoimmune diseases, a situation of stress or emotional instability can trigger it", indicates Alicia Marqués.
White spots
It manifests itself as large white spots without relief and surrounded by a darker halo, preferably in the areas of the skin exposed to sunlight. The spots respond to a destruction of the melanocytes responsible for skin pigmentation. Slowly and progressively, they can spread to more areas of the body, until they can become a universal vitiligo, "very strange, almost impossible," says Alicia Marqués, but the only possible explanation for the universal singer has been all equally white. in 10% of patients with vitiligo, the disease remits spontaneously, and, for those cases where it is not, "the treatment is very unsatisfactory," admits Alicia Marqués. "In a not very high percentage you get repigmentation of the skin, although it can soften again over time," she adds.
These treatments are based on the application of pigmentation-stimulating medications combined with exposure to sunlight. There are also carnouflage therapies, with substances that stain the colorless areas, but which, unfortunately, only last for days.
