DETROIT - Lee Thomas' skin is betraying him.

His once brown, even complexion is now mottled with pale patches around his eyes and mouth, along his nose and on his ears; his arms, shoulders and chest are speckled and blotched.

"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.

"There is no cause. There is no cure, and it's very random," Thomas says. "I could turn all the way white or mostly white."

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 is 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 about vitiligo and how it has affected his life and career, and has written a book about his journey titled "Turning White: A Memoir of Change." Along the way, Thomas says he has met others with the disorder and has become a celebrity spokesman for the Columbus, Ohio-based National Vitiligo Foundation.

Vitiligo attacks the soul and psyche, foundation executive director Robert Haas says.

"When was the last time you saw someone with vitiligo handling your food? It is the public's image that it is some leprosy-type of disease," he says. "A lot of folks feel this disease has trapped them and kept them away from their life goals."

That was Thomas' fear.

He uses a combination of creams and makeup to cover the growing patches of skin - which he calls devoid of colour - on his face, hands and arms. Viewers, co-workers and, for years, his basketball buddies, were none the wiser.

Only family members and those closest to him knew the secret he had kept since age 25.

Thomas first noticed a change after getting a haircut while working in Louisville, Kentucky. He looked in a mirror and thought the barber had nicked him. A closer look revealed a pale spot, about the size of a quarter.

What a terrible thing to happen.

It would be better if the skin at least turned all white, instead of just random patches.

Na wa o! Na orisirisi we go see for this world. I thank God for my life

@ Sienna
I know! Supposedly, this is what Micheal Jackson had, he chose to bleach it all, for obvious reasons. It is so difficult to live with this. I'd much rather be white than both whote and black and have people torture me with stares each time I go out.

@ Semid4lyfe
Me too

spikedcylinder:

It must be harrowing having to put on make up everyday to 'save face'.

I know. And what about the other body parts you cant really put makeup on? in one of the pictures, you see him applying makeup on in face in font of a mirror but the back of his hand cant be covered with makeup. If he did, he'd get makeup on everything he touches!

In the story, he mentions that he was at work once and there was a child there who started to cry when the child realized that the skin tone on his hand is different. I guess the child was scared

That must've been embarrassing. I honestly am no advocate for skin lightening creams, but this is one case where i'd say they should be used.

i actually saw sum1 wit the disease & tot it was sum kinda burn.

This is Vitiligo.

meggieblac:

i actually saw sum1 wit the disease & tot it was sum kinda burn.

I dont blame you afterall, that is what it looks like. Thats why its good to spread the news so we all know and understand

And people condemn MJ with so much ignorance. What a pity!

Yeah heard about this disease like 6years ago while trying to understand contiges disease SLE. Seriously its things like this that really fire up my interest in cell based medicine, nanotechnology and DNA science.
I feel for the guy. Maybe in some years this disorder might just be curable