# Was it ever revealed if Michael Jackson's nose was prosthetic or not? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 11, 2011, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-ever-revealed-if-michael-jacksons-nose-was-prosthetic-or-not/585158 "2011-06-11T22:14:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-ever-revealed-if-michael-jacksons-nose-was-prosthetic-or-not/585158/21 "2011-06-14T12:44:08Z")
> [@SerenaPerido](#): > > The same report also confirmed that Michael suffered from the skin disease, vitiligo, putting to rest the rumours that he “wanted to be white.” I’m still not buying it. If you have a disease that creates pale splotches on your skin, wouldn’t you use makeup or something to fill in the pale parts rather than bleach out the rest of your skin to match the splotches? ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-ever-revealed-if-michael-jacksons-nose-was-prosthetic-or-not/585158/22 "2011-06-14T13:01:04Z")
> [@Cayuga](#): > > I’m still not buying it. If you have a disease that creates pale splotches on your skin, wouldn’t you use makeup or something to fill in the pale parts rather than bleach out the rest of your skin to match the splotches? It’s been medically documented several times. [Here’s a CNN article discussing it.](http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/07/09/michael.jackson.glove/index.html) It was also the inspiration for the white glove he wore on his hand. The vitiligo was extensive so at some point it might have been easier to blend his skin tones lighter rather than darker. And he didn’t bleach out his skin, he used makeup to even it out. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-ever-revealed-if-michael-jacksons-nose-was-prosthetic-or-not/585158/23 "2011-06-14T13:07:34Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > But multiple surgeries on his nose would’ve been indicated in the autopsy report. Would they? It doesn’t sound like his face was examined. It’s not in dispute that he had plastic surgery on his nose. He acknowledged having work done. > [@Cayuga](#): > > I’m still not buying it. If you have a disease that creates pale splotches on your skin, wouldn’t you use makeup or something to fill in the pale parts rather than bleach out the rest of your skin to match the splotches? It’s a progressive disease. At the beginning he had more dark skin and blended out the light patches. Eventually it goes the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-ever-revealed-if-michael-jacksons-nose-was-prosthetic-or-not/585158/24 "2011-06-14T13:12:59Z")
> [@Cayuga](#): > > I’m still not buying it. If you have a disease that creates pale splotches on your skin, wouldn’t you use makeup or something to fill in the pale parts rather than bleach out the rest of your skin to match the splotches? Depends on how bad the vitiligo is. What if you have more white than pigmented skin? Edit: D’oh, didn’t refresh before posting. ---
**Author:** ![Cara\_mel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/22d042/32.png) [@Cara\_mel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cara_mel)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-ever-revealed-if-michael-jacksons-nose-was-prosthetic-or-not/585158/25 "2011-06-14T13:19:38Z")
> [@Cayuga](#): > > I’m still not buying it. If you have a disease that creates pale splotches on your skin, wouldn’t you use makeup or something to fill in the pale parts rather than bleach out the rest of your skin to match the splotches? Here’s a stack of photos showing the spread of the white splotches, although he mainly always kept himself covered up. [http://floacist.wordpress.com/2007/06/10/vitiligo-photos-michael-jackson/](http://floacist.wordpress.com/2007/06/10/vitiligo-photos-michael-jackson/) (Btw, see the pics of him getting out of the car - all those paparazzi and public in your face every time you stepped out, no wonder he wore glasses, masks, hats). ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-ever-revealed-if-michael-jacksons-nose-was-prosthetic-or-not/585158/26 "2011-06-14T13:46:28Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Would they? It doesn’t sound like his face was examined. It’s not in dispute that he had plastic surgery on his nose. He acknowledged having work done. His face was examined. Look at the report. It even detailed the dental work he had done. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-ever-revealed-if-michael-jacksons-nose-was-prosthetic-or-not/585158/27 "2011-06-14T13:53:07Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > His face was examined. Look at the report. It even detailed the dental work he had done. I meant they did not do a surgical examination the way they did on his lungs and stomach and brain and so on, but my wording wasn’t clear. I’m not sure what else you’re looking for. I don’t know exactly what he said about the nose jobs; I think his story was that he only had operations because of breathing problems. But whatever he said, he probably had several operations and the result was the weird-looking nose he wound up with. There’s no other explanation needed. The story that he had no nose at all was always pretty crazy, not that he didn’t do a lot of crazy thing. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-ever-revealed-if-michael-jacksons-nose-was-prosthetic-or-not/585158/28 "2011-06-14T14:00:36Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > His face was examined. Look at the report. It even detailed the dental work he had done. Dental work would be an obvious and easy to notice feature to comment on, especially for use in confirming identification. Plastic surgery that did not obviously leave identifying scars or involve artificial implanted materials might not. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-ever-revealed-if-michael-jacksons-nose-was-prosthetic-or-not/585158/29 "2011-06-14T14:05:57Z")
Actually, upon skimming the report myself, it does indeed mention scarring around the nose. Page 4 of the Autopsy Report proper, item 2. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-ever-revealed-if-michael-jacksons-nose-was-prosthetic-or-not/585158/30 "2011-06-14T14:23:53Z")
Later, the radiologist notes that in the x-rays, the nasal bones are obscured by the other bone structures in the skull and thus can’t be commented on. There are also handwritten notes later from the autopsy, which lay out the scarring and other notable features of the body itself. Nothing about the nose other than the scarring. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-ever-revealed-if-michael-jacksons-nose-was-prosthetic-or-not/585158/31 "2011-06-14T14:37:54Z")
In regards to lack of sleep/poor sleep: A lot of folks get addicted to pain killers. If MJ was addicted to pain killers because of a bad back, or joint pain, or something, besides the presence of these drugs themselves in the blood and/or tissues, what else would an autopsy reveal to indicate this addiction? For example, would scarring (or microscopic calcium deposits) in the joints appear in the autopsy? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-ever-revealed-if-michael-jacksons-nose-was-prosthetic-or-not/585158/32 "2011-06-14T14:46:34Z")
Arthritis (part of the spine and hands) one condition picked up during the exam, as well as a mild degeneration of part of the spine. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-ever-revealed-if-michael-jacksons-nose-was-prosthetic-or-not/585158/33 "2011-06-14T15:21:52Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Arthritis (part of the spine and hands) one condition picked up during the exam, as well as a mild degeneration of part of the spine. Ok. I believe arthrits can be fairly painful in it’s advanced stages. I assume the spine problem may very well be. If MJ was taking pain killers for these conditions, would the autopsy still classify him as “healthy”? (Arthritis, in of itself, is not fatal, I assume.) ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-ever-revealed-if-michael-jacksons-nose-was-prosthetic-or-not/585158/34 "2011-06-14T15:46:01Z")
Well, it doesn’t really say “healthy” that I can see. The heart findings appear to be more or less normal. The lungs have evidence of chronic inflammation, emboli, and scarring, and the phrase “depletion of functional and structural reserves of the lung” is used. I don’t know what caused that, and the report itself says that would at least put him at risk for other health problems, which means it was even more irresponsible for Jackson to not have been on monitoring equipment when on those medications. Somewhat enlarged prostate. Benign colon polyps. The degenerative/arthritic issues appear to be minor, but perhaps he felt the pain acutely due to his dancing; maybe someone more sedentary might barely notice. IANAD/N, though I do work in the medical field. I’m curious about the issue with his lungs; nothing else really sounds that strange for someone who’s 50. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-ever-revealed-if-michael-jacksons-nose-was-prosthetic-or-not/585158/35 "2011-06-14T16:10:00Z")
Sorry, I was going on **Agent Foxtrot** s assesment of the autopsy report in post #8. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-ever-revealed-if-michael-jacksons-nose-was-prosthetic-or-not/585158/36 "2011-06-14T17:22:31Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > But multiple surgeries on his nose would’ve been indicated in the autopsy report. The medical examiner would have no idea how many rhinoplasties had been performed; Jackson’s nose did not have an embedded counter. There may or may not be obvious scars, and upon examination one would not be able to declare whether any scars found were due to a surgery, multiple surgeries, or an assault by a rabid dog. In Jackson’s case there were scars, and they were noted by the examiner on page 14 of the report PDF file (see link in **SerenaPerido’s** post), but the examiner did not suggest any etiology. Supposedly the skin around the end of Jackson’s nose was chronically ischemic as a result of the multiple surgeries; thus, the photos on the web that show him with a band-aid on his nose, [such as this one](http://www.bittenandbound.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/michael-jackson-nose-missing.jpg) (and the mention of same on page 15 of the report PDF file). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-ever-revealed-if-michael-jacksons-nose-was-prosthetic-or-not/585158.md?page=1)