# Michael Jackson
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson/173402
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 6, 2003, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson/173402 "2003-05-06T14:54:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Doubticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doubticus)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson/173402/1 "2003-05-06T14:54:12Z")
With Michael Jackson appearing on the news so much, it got me thinking about the old skin color controversy. Jackson says he has a condition that causes him to loose skin color. Detractors say that he is bleaching his skin. Both of these explanations seem a little dubious. Is there a practice of skin bleaching? Is there a skin condition that can retroactively cause you to loose your skin color?
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson/173402/2 "2003-05-06T14:58:02Z")
It’s not retroactive; I think you meant something else. But some diseases, like vitiligo, do affect skin pigmentation. I think that’s the one Jackson said he had, too.
> **[Home - The Vitiligo Society](https://vitiligosociety.org/)**
>
> Established in 1985, The Vitiligo Society is a charity who supports, inspires and educates about vitiligo. UK based, global reach.
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### Author:  [@WILLASS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WILLASS)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson/173402/3 "2003-05-06T15:00:15Z")
would he go white all over with this disease? or would he be ‘blotchy’?
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson/173402/4 "2003-05-06T15:05:34Z")
He wouldn’t likely go white all over. I think perhaps what he’s claimed is that he lightened his skin because he had the disease (that is, not because he’s a psycho). Skin bleaching is possible, and it’s also illegal.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson/173402/5 "2003-05-06T15:07:20Z")
Even if the story about vitiligo is true, by the way, there are makeups in any color to help conceal it, so bleaching wouldn’t make much sense. Which returns us to the big question: “WHY?”
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### Author:  [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson/173402/6 "2003-05-06T15:13:58Z")
I’m doing my part to prevent celebrity induced psychosis by ignoring all celebrities. Perhaps if I continue to ignore MJ (and all the others) he and they will all get better and lead more normal lives. Join me.
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### Author:  [@LowerLip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LowerLip)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson/173402/7 "2003-05-06T15:16:52Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Marley23 \*
> \*\*He wouldn’t likely go white all over. I think perhaps what he’s claimed is that he lightened his skin because he had the disease (that is, not because he’s a psycho). Skin bleaching is possible, and it’s also illegal. \*\*
Skin bleaching is illegal? I must have missed something in my past fifty years of living. There is a law?
LL
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson/173402/8 "2003-05-06T15:18:50Z")
Why would skin bleaching be illegal? It seems like an odd thing to outlaw.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson/173402/9 "2003-05-06T16:03:50Z")
I’ll check. I think it’s because the chemicals involved are dangerous.
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson/173402/10 "2003-05-06T16:04:20Z")
Skin bleaching is not illegal. It is, however, a procedure that carries some risk. Over the counter skin bleachers ARE illegal in some places because of this. If you want/must have this done you really should be doing it under a doctor’s supervision.
I’ve known several people who have vitiligo. It’s blotchy and unattractive regardless of your original skin color. The folks I’ve known with it either
1. Don’t do anything, just put up with it, maybe throw some sunblock on to prevent burning in the sun
2. Use makeup to cover the area
3. One gal used a medication that was supposed to put color in the affected area, which it did, sort of, but it didn’t look like unaffected skin, was expensive, and she was so dissatisfied with the result she went back to #1
The other two alternatives are tattooing a small area to approximate the color of the rest of the skin, or, if large areas are affected, bleaching the rest of the skin to make a closer match. The bleaching process is permanent and therefore a last resort - you’d see it with someone who has already lost almost all their skin color already. It can cause scarring, other forms of skin damage, and ever after you must stay out of the sun because you will have lost your natural sunscreen.
Hey, that _does_ sound like Michael Jackson, now doesn’t it?
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson/173402/11 "2003-05-06T16:09:27Z")
'Kay, this is from [Snopes.com](http://Snopes.com) ([www.snopes.com/photos/jackson.asp](http://www.snopes.com/photos/jackson.asp))
“Dermatologists also suggested that Jackson has probably undergone Botox injections in his forehead, has had plastic surgery on his eyes, had had his chin squared off, has lightened his skin using a hydroquinone compound (not legal in the U.S.), and has tattooed eyebrows and eyeliner.”
It’s the chemical that’s illegal, I think, not the procedure. Though that might not matter much.
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### Author:  [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson/173402/12 "2003-05-06T16:19:14Z")
A few months ago in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=124525) “skin bleach” was explained in greater detail. Bleaching your skin is not illegal but many of the processes are not FDA approved, so you have to go “offshore.”
Also, from what I understand of vitiligo some of the patchiness _can_ be covered up with darker make-up and dyes – but the quality can vary. Some are roughly the same as the fake bronzing, tan-in-a-bottle, that produces uneven results that never really look quite right.
Dunno how the skin bleach would compare in quality as far as that’s concerned.
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### Author:  [@Doubticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doubticus)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson/173402/13 "2003-05-06T16:29:40Z")
Thanks for the info everyone!
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### Author:  [@occ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/occ)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson/173402/14 "2003-05-06T17:37:26Z")
There’s a long history of those with means travelling abroad to get “luxury” medical procedures done. Many of these are “illegal” (that is, not an approved medical procedure) in the US, but there’s always a country with more lax regulations that will allow the doctor to set up shop. Hence the situation with many of the world’s best plastic surgeons being based out of unexpected countries you don’t generally associate with medical practice.
So yeah, I doubt it being illegal in the US (if so) would have been much of an issue for someone as well-off as Michael Jackson.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson/173402/15 "2003-05-06T18:01:01Z")
Is this vitiligo a common disease on Michael’s home planet?
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson/173402/16 "2003-05-06T19:38:11Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by BrainGlutton \*
> \*\*Is this vitiligo a common disease on Michael’s home planet? \*\*
My friend had it. He had it from birth, though, and made it sound like you had to be born with it.
I’d like to point out that Jackson has clearly admitted that they use makeup to make his skin lighter. His makeup artist was on one of the recent specials and said that it used be easier to color his skin darker to match his natural colour, but it eventually became easier to dye the dark parts lighter.
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### Author:  [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2003, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson/173402/17 "2003-05-06T19:59:05Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Derleth \*
> \*\*Why would skin bleaching be illegal? It seems like an odd thing to outlaw. \*\*
There used to be a lot of laws in the US South that made it illegal for “coloreds” to do anything that might let them pass as “white”.
Possibly this law, if it exists, is a leftover from that era?