whitening cream

[Cristine87]

[quote name="Chani"]
Wrong. I am a part of IMDb boards and many of the people replying to the thread are fans who have a lot of respect for Michael, not ignorant haters. The argument in the thread is not about if he had vitiligo, but about how it originated. There is noway anyone can prove whether his vitiligo came about naturally or if it was chemically-induced based on the autopsy. That is all we're saying on the thread is that his vitiligo could have been chemically-induced or natural. The other point we make in the thread is that he shouldn't have been using bleaching cream for nearly 3 decades, so we are questioning his use of bleaching his skin for over 25 years. He claimed on Oprah he had no idea what skin bleaching was, but he WAS bleaching his skin. It took a lot more than make-up to achieve those nice blends in the 80s.

I think people get offended because they don't want to entertain the idea that Michael could have lied about bleaching his skin. I think that is ignorant because it's not about Michael lying for me. That is not why I want to know. It is not even about trying to prove he hated his race either. It goes deeper for me. If he had such a horrible self-image to the point where he felt a need to do this (if he indeed did it), then it breaks my heart and I want to know why. We know Michael took almost everything literally and he was stuck on pleasing his fans. He knew what sold. Just look at any fanboard and you will see that most people have avatars of Michael post surgery and post-vitiligo. Very few fans have avatars of Michael when he had an afro, dark skin, and a wide nose. And so many go gaga over Bad Michael and his luscious curls. As his features got more European, then he became more hot. He knew this and he knew it well. And btw, that is a part of the discussion also. That he wanted to go more commercial in his look for Thriller, but things went bad to where the bleaching spread across and induced vitiligo. 
[/quote]

Ok, I have to comment on this. People have pictures of Michael post-vitiligo and post-surgery because those are the more recent pictures of him. Michael with the fro and the darker skin is 70's-early 80's Michael. I love Michael no matter how he looks, but being born in 1987, I'm more familiar with long curly haired, white skin Michael because that's the one I grew up with. I have a special fondness for the "dangerous" and "History" albums because they're my very earliest memories of him. I loved Michael no matter what color he was. Why would Michael be purposely bleaching his skin and having a bunch of cosmetic surgery if he was getting so much backlash for it. That doesn't make sense. When Michael became lighter and his features looked more "caucasian", it actually made him lose the commercial appeal he had in the US and he became a tabloid punchline. Michael was at his peak during Thriller commercial-wise, and If I recall he had a milk-chocolate complexion, a jherri curl and a slender nose. If this was about pleasing his fans and gaining commercial appeal, wouldn't he try to keep the same look as the Thriller era. I mean it's to this day, the best-selling album of all time, so obviously, people had absolutely no problem with the way he looked. So, I don't understand this argument from people that he was trying to look more white to somehow elevate himself, when the opposite actually accord. I don't believe that you can self-induce vitiligo. Nobody wants blotches on their skin. That's not attractive and that's not what Michael wanted. He didn't want people to talk negatively about his appearance. If this had been any other person with vitiligo, people would be giving that person sympathy and understanding and wouldn't even think to accuse that person of trying to purposely change their looks because it would be considered mean and insensitive, but of course, Michael doesn't get that same courtesy now does he?

 

[Teva]

@Chani- you said:
"Wrong. I am a part of IMDb boards and many of the people replying to the thread are fans who have a lot of respect for Michael, not ignorant haters. The argument in the thread is not about if he had vitiligo, but about how it originated. There is noway anyone can prove whether his vitiligo came about naturally or if it was chemically-induced based on the autopsy. That is all we're saying on the thread is that his vitiligo could have been chemically-induced or natural. The other point we make in the thread is that he shouldn't have been using bleaching cream for nearly 3 decades, so we are questioning his use of bleaching his skin for over 25 years. He claimed on Oprah he had no idea what skin bleaching was, but he WAS bleaching his skin. It took a lot more than make-up to achieve those nice blends in the 80s."

The first person to talk about Michael Jackson chemically inducing vitiligo is Randy Taraborrelli (no doctor) in one of his editions.  I have never heard of a dermatologist saying this is even possible.  Yes, it is possible to bleach skin from dark to lighter, but MJ was translucent to the point where you could see his veins.  Bleach skin is a process; vitiligo is a disease and the 2 separate and distinct.  As for the nice blends in the 80s definitely makeup can achieve that.  When you are working with top notch artist anything is possible.  Also the nice blends we see can be due to air brushing all mags covers are airbrushed. I read an article by Michael's Friend, a painter, named David Nordahl.  Here is what he had to say:

"People accused him of trying to be white, which is ridiculous, ...When I first met him, his vitiligo had gone to the right side of his face and down his neck. Most of his right hand was white. Stark white patches. He used makeup because he had to. Without it, he was speckled all over.".  

Now if I was going to self-induce whiteness I would make sure it was uniform, and not start with the right side of my face.  As a public person I would not chose to look like a Dalmatian.  Just saying.

Chani- you said "Just look at any fanboard and you will see that most people have avatars of Michael post surgery and post-vitiligo. Very few fans have avatars of Michael when he had an afro, dark skin, and a wide nose. And so many go gaga over Bad Michael and his luscious curls. As his features got more European, then he became more hot. He knew this and he knew it well."

Firstly you have to look at the ages of the people who have the avatars.  People tend to chose avatars that reflect their own age, but more importantly the Michael that they Knew.  I am from the bad era so the Michael I first saw had the curls and chocolate skin (yummy) he is the one I identify with.  Older persons have Michael from the J5 years, I think he was hot then too.   As for the curls, come on, so many black people had curls in the 80s that was the style.  Michael Jackson did not invent it he just went with it, afros were out of style by then.  Finally Michael became hotter the more records he sold.  No one would have paid attention if not for the talent.  Reality tv had not been invented yet.

I just want to comment on the wide nose.  Janet, Latoya, and Jermaine all had nose jobs as well.

 

[Anonymous]

Once again, the issue is not about if he had vitiligo but how it originated. "Thriller" Michael was not "natural" Michael. His hair was curly and his nose was slimmer. So yes, he changed his looks for Thriller to have a more "commercial" appeal. And yes it doesn't make sense to me and you, but to a person with self image problems it makes perfect sense. Now I'll give you the point that they could have airbrushed those photos, but if you go on youtube, there's a guy on there with a bunch of MJ and J5 stuff he won from a lawsuit, and one of the things in his collection includes a tube of bleaching cream. I believe this guy is the same guy who owns the photo of Michael coming out of the pool in those black swim trunks. I'm too lazy to search for the video now and I really shouldn't be Michaeling right now as I should be doing schoolwork. Anyways, I believe that is further proof that he was bleaching before that interview, and although we can't trust this guy, Landis also said Michael was bleaching his skin. But like I said, don't know their credibility.

And look at how Michael looked during the Victory Tour. He is hella light-skinned. And in '86, he got even lighter. Were they experimenting with different shades of make-up? Karen claimed that when he was getting whiter, they opted for a more whiter shade. But that make-up didn't go from dark brown to white. It when from dark brown, to light brown, to vanilla, to white.

And yeah Michael kept getting ridiculed, but it didn't stop him for doing what he wanted to do. I mean he still wore crazy disguises even though he was ridiculed for it. He still wore a surgical mask despite criticism. So he could still bleach his skin despite ridicule.

Last point, you guys have a point about the avatars. I know why I choose mine, and you know why you choose yours. So it was wrong of me to project anything on others. But it remains a fact that few have avatars of dark skin wide nose afro Michael. And if I were to look at youtube videos of sexy Michael, 90% of them are post surgical (Thriller and after) or post vitiligo (Bad and after) Michael.  But I was pleasantly surprised when I went to the sexy site Crack Cobra to find a variety of sexy pics of Michael even during the 70s. But while checking out the website, the first thought that popped into my mind was, "I bet the creator of this site is black." Sure enough she was. Now I go to Dangerous Fantasies (creator is white), and very few of the pics are brown skin Michael or afro hair Michael. Now these are just my observations and they more than likely don't prove a thing, but it's where I get my viewpoint from.

 

[shelly]

[quote name="Teva"]
@
The first person to talk about Michael Jackson chemically inducing vitiligo is Randy Taraborrelli (no doctor) in one of his editions.  I have never heard of a dermatologist saying this is even possible.  Yes, it is possible to bleach skin from dark to lighter, but MJ was translucent to the point where you could see his veins.  Bleach skin is a process; vitiligo is a disease and the 2 separate and distinct.  As for the nice blends in the 80s definitely makeup can achieve that.  When you are working with top notch artist anything is possible.  
[/quote]

It's possible to bleach to bleach your skin like that:

"A 20% cream of monobenzylether of hydroquinone is applied twice daily for 3-12 months. Burning or itching may occur. Allergic contact dermatitis may be seen"

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1068962-treatment


What I don't understand is why did he ue it for 30 years?

 

[Anonymous]

Oh one more point. I noticed that some people are saying that others are claiming that he self-induced vitiligo. No of course not. No one is saying that. Like you said, that's crazy because no one wants blotches on their skin. What the people in that thread were saying is that vitiligo can be caused from bleaching chemicals as well. Like let me tell you, when I had acne, I used some hydroquinone bleaching cream to fade my dark spots and even out my skin tone. And my skin had gotten so light. Like it wasn't even my natural color before I  had skin discoloration. So the argument is that he could have just wanted to lighten up his skin (not turn completely white) and things went bad for him to the point where the chemicals induced vitiligo. Now no one is saying that this is true, he could have very well gotten vitiligo naturally.

ETA: You also made a point about why wouldn't he had stuck with the Thriller look if that's what everyone enjoyed. Like I said, he had image problems. He added a cleft and got another nose surgery, so I don't see why you say it doesn't make sense. Of course it doesn't make sense. But Michael didn't see what we saw, and that's what make it sad. He didn't see a beautiful person. He even told Oprah he wasn't satisfied with his looks.

 

[OneMoreChance]

Ok I have to comment on this now too. When someone with vitiligo uses the creams the process is called depigmentation. Basically it is just helping to speed up the process that the vitiligo is already doing. They do not call it bleaching. So it stands to reason that Michael may have not known that some people refer to it as "bleaching". So he probably was in faxct telling the truth. I have done some research in this area since my daughter was recently diagnosed with vitiligo. Lightening your skin using creams would not give you such a blotchy look like Michael had. It would be way more even then that.the blotchy patches is classic vitiligo. If you watch the making of Thriller you can see the vitiligo patch on the right side of his face. There have been several times when he has been performing that you can see the make up running. Karen stated that in the beginning they covered the light spots to match the darker skin, but as the vitiligo spread it became clear that they would not be able to continue doing that. He would have had to wear make up all over his body. Michael tried other methods to control the vitiligo. I believe it was Martin Bashir that Michael told that he had a 'procedure' for the vitiligo, but that it didn't work.

So of course Michael used cream to lighten the darker spots on his skin. The fact that 'fans' are questioning
whether Michael did that to himself makes me angry. Also people who actually 'bleach' their are often left with a grayish look to their skin. Michael had vitiligo. Leave it alone. I don't understand the point in arguing about this.

 

[Teva]

"Once again, the issue is not about if he had vitiligo but how it originated."

Once again you cannot originate vitiligo from bleaching, bleaching cannot induce vitiligo.  This is not a question of which came first the chicken or the egg.  The Guy had vitiligo then used the creams to even out his complexion.

Who said he used it for 30 years?  To use something that caustic for 30 years they would have been no skin to bleach, this is common sense.  Again why would the autopsy say he had dark patches on his face and body if he was bleaching for 30 years.

Michael said the desease started to occur sometime around Thriller, obviously it will get worst plus it was complicated by lupus!  There is a youtube video of MJ in Perth 1985 where the wife of the former beatles catalog owner talks about MJ purchasing books on the most grosteque skin deseases, ahem.

As for the pictures during the 70s where he looks lighter and darker thats easy, we all get lighter and darker depending on the time of the year, if you are out at the pool or a water amusement park all day you are going to be darker, and the lighting of the cameras during photo sessions can make a person clearer.  Wasn't there a recent outrage over a magazine cover that made Beyonce look white skin.

 

[Teva]

@Jennifer30

The procedure you are refering to is called repigmentation where they try to put the melonin back into the skin.  Unfortunately it did not work for Michael Jackson.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote name="Jeniffer30"]
Ok I have to comment on this now too. When someone with vitiligo uses the creams the process is called depigmentation. Basically it is just helping to speed up the process that the vitiligo is already doing. They do not call it bleaching. So it stands to reason that Michael may have not known that some people refer to it as "bleaching". So he probably was in faxct telling the truth.[/quote]

A rose by any other name will smell just as sweet. Oprah explained to him what bleaching creams do.

I have done some research in this area since my daughter was recently diagnosed with vitiligo. Lightening your skin using creams would not give you such a blotchy look like Michael had. It would be way more even then that.the blotchy patches is classic vitiligo.

No one said bleaching cream causes blotchy patches. We are talking about chemically-induced vitiligo, not blotches being present because of bleaching cream.

If you watch the making of Thriller you can see the vitiligo patch on the right side of his face.

I watched it and I never seen a patch, but if there is a video pointing it out then I will watch it and gladly say you were correct.  When he washed his makeup off I did not see any patches or signs of anything.

There have been several times when he has been performing that you can see the make up running. Karen stated that in the beginning they covered the light spots to match the darker skin, but as the vitiligo spread it became clear that they would not be able to continue doing that. He would have had to wear make up all over his body. Michael tried other methods to control the vitiligo. I believe it was Martin Bashir that Michael told that he had a 'procedure' for the vitiligo, but that it didn't work.

Yeah he developed vitiligo. We all know this.

So of course Michael used cream to lighten the darker spots on his skin. The fact that 'fans' are questioning
whether Michael did that to himself makes me angry. Also people who actually 'bleach' their are often left with a grayish look to their skin. Michael had vitiligo. Leave it alone. I don't understand the point in arguing about this.

You say you don't see the point in arguing about this, but you still presented an argument. I am here to get educated on the issue and to understand that if he did start off bleaching, then that's sad that he felt a need to do it.  If a friend of mine felt like they had to continually change themselves, I would want them to know they're beautiful and that they don't need to change. But then people say it's his body and he can do whatever he wants to and it's nobody business. But when the media puts up images in magazines and young girls want to look like the models in the magazine, people blame the media for brainwashing young girls into an 'ideal image'. But I thought it shouldn't matter because it's their body and if they want to change it then they should, right? So no more getting on people about image problems. I will drop the issue after the next reply.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote name="Teva"]
"Once again, the issue is not about if he had vitiligo but how it originated."

Once again you cannot originate vitiligo from bleaching, bleaching cannot induce vitiligo.  This is not a question of which came first the chicken or the egg.  The Guy had vitiligo then used the creams to even out his complexion.[/quote]

Articles discussing how vitiligo can be triggered by chemicals.

http://www.vitiligosupport.org/faq.cfm
http://www.vitiligozone.com/FAQ/chemica ... itiligo.ht ml
http://www.mdguidelines.com/vitiligo
http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10 ... 8409036283
http://www.dermabest.com/links.aspx?id=7

Who said he used it for 30 years?  To use something that caustic for 30 years they would have been no skin to bleach, this is common sense.  Again why would the autopsy say he had dark patches on his face and body if he was bleaching for 30 years.

They found bottles of hydroquinone and a derivative of hydroquinone at his place. There were no reports that this was expired medication, so it is safe to say that he was using it at the present moment. He had patches because he had vitiligo. I thought we all knew this. And bluntstmd from imdb explains this better than me. So here is a direct quote:

bluntstmd quotes

This is because true autoimmune Vitiligo is a progressive illness and once the process happens in true autoimmune vitiligo, there is no need for continued bleaching in the same areas as there are no melanocytes left. Melanocytes are what are destroyed by the person's own body in autoimmune vitiligo. In autoimmune vitiligo, the process is usually extensive in about 5 years and usually the person may be almost completely depigmented with in about 10-15 years. That is the natural history of autoimmune vitiligo. MJ was 25+ years out*.

In chemical or acquired vitiligo,however, there are still a few melanocytes that may be present as they are also targeted by the creams but it is not as complete as the autoimmune process and repigmentation can occur in cases of sun exposure as melanocytes were left. Continued cream use would be needed to even these areas up and this would be on a long term basis.

On the autopsy, the skin sample biopsies still showed some melanocytes--although reduced in number. This again is more consistent with chemical or acquired vitiligo and not autoimmune vitiligo as there are no melanocytes left in autoimmune vitiligo--especially 25+ years on.

End of quote by IMDb user. You can dispute whether this person is actually a dermatologist, but the information is out there and I provided articles from which you can also learn about natural vitiligo and acquired vitiligo

Michael said the desease started to occur sometime around Thriller, obviously it will get worst plus it was complicated by lupus!  There is a youtube video of MJ in Perth 1985 where the wife of the former beatles catalog owner talks about MJ purchasing books on the most grosteque skin deseases, ahem.

No one said he didn't have vitiligo so I don't know what you're getting at.

As for the pictures during the 70s where he looks lighter and darker thats easy, we all get lighter and darker depending on the time of the year, if you are out at the pool or a water amusement park all day you are going to be darker, and the lighting of the cameras during photo sessions can make a person clearer.  Wasn't there a recent outrage over a magazine cover that made Beyonce look white skin.

My question was in regards to the different make-up shades in the 80s. I change colors, yes. But it has nothing to do with seasonal changes but skin changes due to medicine I use. So my question is why did the makeup go from brown to vanilla to white. Michael's shade is different during Dangerous than it was during Bad. My hypothesis is that he was using bleaching cream over his dark spots to help blend with the white patches of vitiligo. Once things spread all around is when the maekup went completely white.

 

[oldschoolfan]

It has been said more than once, and by more than one Jackson family member that vitiligo was a hereditary condition for him. I do not for a second believe Michael bleached his skin to make himself white or that he had chemically induced vitiligo. Michael was always amazingly good looking, not matter what he thought of himself.
I am into Michael around Dangerous, it has NOTHING to do with him being white. I cannot help the colour of someone's skin and I certainly can't help the fact Michael happened to be white at that point. It is because that's when I was really young then and I loved the 90's. The Dangerous album is my favourite album of his because it is the most real album to me, it is the very first solo album without Quincy, and it was right before the allegations and all the angry songs. Michael seemed to have really found himself and was very spiritual. That's why I happen to love the Dangerous era.
I know others were in love with the recent era, and that is because Michael seemed as though he was finally a grown man, he was a father, he'd been there, done that, nothing could hurt him, he knew what he was doing with things.

NONE of this would be changed if Michael was still black. To say that people tend to be in love with Michael when he turned white... Well as I said I love the Dangerous era so that would mean that I loved Michael when he was white, so I found him 'less appealing' when he was black and had a fat nose, so I am really liking him for the colour of his skin, so almost comes across as though I'm a bit of a racist. Sorry, but that's how it sounds.

Man I would have got a leg over Michael at any time, whether he had the Afro or the jerry curls or the the long hair or the straight hair or with black skin or with white skin.

Michael did not need to 'make himself white' to appeal to more people, he was already the biggest freaking star on the planet before his skin even changed a shade!
And one thing to point out, I'm sure Michael would have had SOME sort of logic in his head that if people saw him turn from black to white they might find that not so much commercially appealing as a little bit odd, and that if being a white person appealed more to a whiter audience so much then it would probably appeal LESS to a black audience, therefore not really making himself more appealing at all, and I'm sure most people realise that the colour of his skin doesn't actually change his race, so if people didn't like him because he was African-American then they still aren't going to like him.
So basically, the theory that he wanted to appeal to a wider audience is absolute bullshit to me.

I am NOT trying to avoid talking about the concepts of any skin bleaching, if Michael used chemicals to aid in getting rid of spots I don't find that unrealistic at all, a lot of people do that, and Michael was in the public eye more than anyone. But that he bleached his skin to make himself white and he had chemically induced vitiligo? No way. That's media crap to me. This is all coming out after it stated on the autopsy report that Michael had vitiligo so they're looking for any reason they can to still make stories.

Why can't he just have a disease WITHOUT a million stories behind it. Like I said in an earlier post, there are so many different stories as to WHY he  bleached his skin, they can't even keep their facts straight.

Now please excuse me if I don't respond anymore to this thread, I do find the concept of someone bleaching themself to make themself white just a LITTLE ridiculous sorry. I don't have time for media stories...

 

[OneMoreChance]

Ok there are two many statements that I want to reply to and I do not have the energy to 'quote' them all.
Here is the making of thriller video...pay attention to the right side of michael's face. You can see where the skin is lighter. There are also several pics from the same time where you can see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=J8wPA2NFmdc

As far as this chemically induced vitiligo as far as I have been able to find out seems to be caused by exposure to phenols a chemical used in photography.

Of course Michael shade was different in the Dangerous era then the Bad era. His vitiligo obviously at that time was spreading very quickly. Extreme stress can do this.

@Chani
I'm confused... do you refuse to believe that Michael developed vitiligo as an auto-immune disorder? People commonly have more then one auto-immune disorder. My daughter has type 1 diabetes and vitiligo. Michael had vitiligo and lupus.

By the way....great post Amy!

 

[whisperAdmin]

[quote name="shelly"]
The question is did the blotches appeared naturally or because of previous skin bleaching and why did he bleach his skin for 30 years.
[/quote]
No that's not a question. It is not a fact in dispute. You are trying to make a discussion out of something that already has an answer.  To even entertain your suggestion, one would have to believe he put the alleged bleaching cream on his skin in tiny clumps; skipping certain spots and concentrating on other spots. Not only that, but that he would also have to get someone else to put the cream on his back in clumps; that person also skipping certain spots and concentrating on others. That makes no sense.

To continue to talk about this is like talking about whether the Earth really revolves around the sun.

How sad for Mike to think that not even his autopsy could convince people of his truthfulness.

 

[OneMoreChance]

[quote name="whisper"]
No that's not a question. It is not a fact in dispute. You are trying to make a discussion out of something that already has an answer.  To even entertain your suggestion, one would have to believe he put the alleged bleaching cream on his skin in tiny clumps; skipping certain spots and concentrating on other spots. Not only that, but that he would also have to get someone else to put the cream on his back in clumps; that person also skipping certain spots and concentrating on others. That makes no sense.

To continue to talk about this is like talking about whether the Earth really revolves around the sun.

How sad for Mike to think that not even his autopsy could convince people of his truthfulness.
[/quote]

Holla! 

 

[Saphster]

Some people really have too much time on their hands if they're still stuck on the whole idea that Michael wanted to be white.

 

[sunshine.larrazabal]

Okay, the cream Mike was using is called BENOQUIN, read below about the drug! And please understand everY word so there'll be no argument about Michael'S vitiligo on this thread! And it is really tiring to argue with some minds that doesn't flow the same as yours!  : Believe me! If you understand the drug, please don't post sarcastic reply just to irritate me and some other fans here, because there's no point---- Michael said it himself, Dr. Klein, Karen Faye, Donny Osmond, David Nordahl, and Henry Vacarro who sued Michael and said something about a tube cream that Michael used (in the 80's) to TREAT his VITILIGO! And guess what?? He put it in auction! Do you want it??? Goodluck! Here it goes:  : :


Benoquin® [Cream]
ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc
 

See related Benoquin Cream information 

Contents 
Cream (0187-0380) monobenzone 200 milligram in 1 gram

Indications 
Benoquin Cream 20% is indicated for final depigmentation in extensive Vitiligo.

Benoquin Cream 20% is applied topically to permanently depigment normal skin surrounding vitiliginous lesions in patients with disseminated (greater than 50 percent of body surface area) idiopathic vitiligo.

Benoquin Cream 20% is not recommended in freckling; hyperpigmentation caused by photosensitization following the use of certain perfumes (berlock dermatitis); melasma (chloasma) of pregnancy; or hyperpigmentation resulting from inflammation of the skin. Benoquin Cream 20% is not effective for the treatment of cafe-au-lait spots, pigmented nevi, malignant melanoma or pigmentation resulting from pigments other than melanin (e.g.: bile, silver, or artificial pigments).

Dosage 
A thin layer of Benoquin Cream 20% should be applied and rubbed into the pigmented area two or three times daily, or as directed by physician. Prolonged exposure to sunlight should be avoided during treatment with Benoquin Cream 20%, or a sunscreen should be used.

Depigmentation is usually accomplished after one to four months of Benoquin Cream 20% treatment. If satisfactory results are not obtained after four months of Benoquin Cream 20% treatment, the drug should be discontinued. When the desired degree of depigmentation is obtained, Benoquin Cream 20% should be applied only as often as needed to maintain depigmentation (usually only two times weekly).

Contraindications 
Benoquin Cream 20% contains a potent depigmenting agent and is not a cosmetic skin bleach. Use of Benoquin Cream 20% is contraindicated in any conditions other than disseminated vitiligo. Benoquin Cream 20% frequently produces irreversible depigmentation, and it must not be used as a substitute for hydroquinone.

Benoquin Cream 20% is also contraindicated in individuals with a history of sensitivity or allergic reactions to this product, or any of its ingredients.

Warnings 
Benoquin Cream 20% is a potent depigmenting agent, not a mild cosmetic bleach. Do not use except for final depigmentation in extensive vitiligo.

Keep this, and all medications out of the reach of children. In case of accidental ingestion, call a physician or a Poison Control Center immediately.

Special Precautions 
(See Warnings):

General
Benoquin Cream 20% is for External Use Only. Following therapy with Benoquin Cream 20%, the skin will be sensitive for the rest of the patient’s life. He/she must use sunscreens during exposure to the sun.

Information for the Patient
Benoquin Cream 20% contains a potent depigmenting agent and is not a cosmetic skin bleach. Use of Benoquin Cream 20% is contraindicated in any conditions other than disseminated vitiligo. Use only for final depigmentation in extensive vitiligo. Areas of normal skin distant to the site of Benoquin Cream 20% application may become depigmented, and irregular, excessive, unsightly, and frequently permanent depigmentation may occur.

Carcinogenesis, mutagenesis, impairment of fertility
No long term studies have been performed to evaluate carcinogenic potential.

Pregnancy: Category C
Animal reproduction studies have not been conducted with Benoquin Cream 20%. It is also not known whether Benoquin Cream 20% can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman, or can affect reproduction capacity. Benoquin Cream 20% should be given to a pregnant woman only if clearly needed.

Nursing Mothers
It is not known whether this drug is excreted in human milk. Because many drugs are excreted in human milk, caution should be exercised when Benoquin Cream 20% is administered to a nursing woman.

Pediatric Use
The safety and effectiveness of Benoquin Cream 20% in pediatric patients below the age of 12 years have not been established.

Adverse Drug Reactions 
Mild, transient skin irritation and sensitization, including erythematous and eczematous reactions have occurred following topical application of Benoquin Cream 20%. Although those reactions are usually transient, treatment with Benoquin Cream 20% should be discontinued if irritation, a burning sensation, or dermatitis occur. Areas of normal skin distant to the site of Benoquin Cream 20% application frequently have become depigmented, and irregular, excessive, unsightly, and frequently permanent depigmentation has occurred.

Description 
Monobenzone is the monobenzyl ether of hydroquinone. Monobenzone occurs as a white, almost tasteless crystalline powder, soluble in alcohol and practically insoluble in water.

Chemically, monobenzone is designated as p-(benzyloxy) phenol; the empirical formula is C13H12O2; molecular weight 200.24. The structural formula is:


C13H12O2   200.24

Each gram of Benoquin Cream contains 200 mg of monobenzone USP, in a water-washable base consisting of purified water USP, cetyl alcohol NF, propylene glycol USP, sodium lauryl sulfate NF and white wax NF.

Mechanism of Action 
CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY
Benoquin Cream 20% is a depigmenting agent whose mechanism of action is not fully understood.

The topical application of monobenzone in animals, increases the excretion of melanin from the melanocytes. The same action is thought to be responsible for the depigmenting effect of the drug in humans. Monobenzone may cause destruction of melanocytes and permanent depigmentation. This effect is erratic and may take one to four months to occur while existing melanin is lost with normal sloughing of the stratum corneum. Hyperpigmented skin appears to fade more rapidly than does normal skin, and exposure to sunlight reduces the depigmenting effect of the drug. The histology of the skin after depigmentation with topical monobenzone is the same as that seen in vitiligo; the epidermis is normal except for the absence of identifiable melanocytes.



There! I hope y'all undestand now???!!! NO??!!! Well, ask your mom!  :

 

[whisperAdmin]

Whatever he was using to treat his vitiligo is what it is. But unless a doc confirms his treatment plan, what treatment creams he may have used is speculation. What's not in dispute is that he had the illness. Courses of treatment varies by patient.

 

[sunshine.larrazabal]

[quote name="whisper"]What's not in dispute is that he had the illness.[/quote]


CORRECT!

 

[swan1013]

[quote name="Saphster"]
Some people really have too much time on their hands if they're still stuck on the whole idea that Michael wanted to be white.
[/quote]


EXACTLY! I'm sick of arguing about it, you can give these people all the evidence in the world and they still choose to believe a lie, more than likely because they don't want to admit they're wrong.  People like that are exhausting and can ruin your freaking day!

 

[Sydney]

Self-induced vitiligo?  That is on my top ten list of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard.  To suggest Mike gave himself this disease is an insult.  People want to believe Mike caused this and they will go out an write all sorts of articles eg. the links given in a previous post to support their point of view.  I BELIEVE MICHAEL JACKSON.  He deserves better than this crap.  I will not be responding to this thread any longer.