I Guess I Am Getting “Even Whiter”
Posted by Andy on December 17th, 2007
If this reporter is a “black man turning white“, does it mean I am getting even whiter?
“I’m a black man turning white on television and people can see it,” says Thomas, an anchor and entertainment reporter for the local Fox Broadcasting Company affiliate. “If you’ve watched me over the years, you’ve seen my hands completely change from brown to white.”
Thomas has vitiligo, a disorder in which pigment-making cells are destroyed. White patches appear on different parts of the body, tissues in the mouth and nose, and the retina.
I also have the disorder.
As many as 65 million people worldwide have the disorder, including up to 2 million in the United States.
Few people, outside medical professionals and those with the disease, had heard the term “vitiligo” until Michael Jackson revealed in the early 1990s that the disorder was behind his skin turning brown to white.
It’s not fatal, but experts say vitiligo robs people of self-confidence, evokes ridicule and unpleasant stares, and pushes some into unforced seclusion.
The 40-year-old Thomas says that’s not where the disorder needs to be. He openly talks aboueup to conceal his skin discoloration, he realized the vitiligo was becoming more obvious when he couldn’t hide it from a preschooler during a story about a playground. His two-toned hands frightened the girl, who began to cry.
So far I am lucky, and it is barely noticeable so far for me, but time will tell. I can share the feelings expressed by the reporter. It is kinda worrisome to think about what others think. We’re a weird society, and skin disorders usually do put people into the quarantine sector of most people’s minds.
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December 18th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
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