Michael Jackson’s vitiligo; a thread

before i start let me just say that michael loved being black and he was proud of his race don’t believe everything you read and believe the words coming out of his mouth

Vitiligo is a disease that causes the loss of skin color in blotches. The extent and rate of color loss from vitiligo is unpredictable. It can affect the skin on any part of your body. It may also affect hair and the inside of the mouth.

Michael Jackson was diagnosed with vitiligo in 1984. He came public with the condition in 1993 on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

He first wore his iconic solitary white glove, which was later covered in silver sequins, in 1983 during a performance of “Billie Jean” at Motown’s 25th anniversary. The glove which he wore on his left hand throughout his career was an early effort to mask the skin condition.

His friend, actress Cicely Tyson confirmed that the glove was to cover his vitiligo and she was there when he was creating it as the two shared a fashion designer in the 1980s.

michael always felt insecure about his looks because his father always mocked his appearance, so seeing these spots and ignoring them was something hard for him so he covered them

He started growing paler in the mid-1980s without going public with the skin condition that saw him applying makeup to hide his disease from the cameras. The media widely covered rumours that he didn’t like the colour of his skin and this hurt him

Many reports in the 80s run by tabloids claimed that he slept in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber to slow the ageing process among other reports. This earned him the name “Wacko Jacko” which is a racist slur not a short for jackson
https://twitter.com/smilexmj/status/1161942909563940865?s=21

He told Taraborrelli:
“Why not just tell people I’m an alien from Mars? Tell them I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight. They’ll believe anything you say, because you’re a reporter-

But if I, Michael Jackson, were to say, “I’m an alien from Mars and I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight,” people would say, “Oh, man, that Michael Jackson is nuts. He’s cracked up. You can’t believe a single word that comes out of his mouth.”

Jackson's dermatologist, Arnold Klein, said he observed in 1983 that Jackson had vitiligo. He also identified discoid lupus erythematosus in Jackson. He diagnosed Jackson with lupus that year and with vitiligo in 1986.

Vitiligo's drastic effects on the body can cause psychological distress. he used fair-colored makeup to cover up the uneven blotches of color caused by the illness. and possibly skin-bleaching prescription creams (which the doctor have described for him) to treat his vitiligo.

The creams would have further lightened his skin, and, with the application of makeup, he could appear very pale.

Jackson's autopsy confirmed that he had vitiligo. His skin was found to have reduced melanocytes, the cells active in skin pigmentation. Vitiligo occurs in three different patterns.

Segmental depigmentation means only one side of the body is affected, whereas generalized depigmentation means many parts of the body are affected.

Jackson's autopsy report states a "focal depigmentation of the skin" (the depigmentation occurs on one or a few areas of the body). In Jackson's case, there were five affected areas.

When Jackson was diagnosed with vitiligo in the mid-1980s, he started to learn more about the disease. He would often call his dermatologist's nurse and future wife Debbie Rowe to get medical information as well as emotional support.

Now when will yall stop calling a black man white just bc he had vitiligo and start appreciating his music and everything he did for the music industry?

oh and since i made this thread bc i saw someone saying he hated being black im gonna link this bc calling him white is disrespectful and racist af https://twitter.com/smilexmj/status/1161942875061530624?s=20

let me get to this part again and say that he DIDN’T BLEACH his skin and that benoquin is not a cosmetic bleach https://twitter.com/smilexmj/status/1185231149922246657?s=20

CORRECTION michael first wore the glove during the destiny tour in 1979 the disease started in off the wall era https://twitter.com/smilexmj/status/1185224592937365506?s=20

here’s the clip