Could Michael Jackson's older son have the same rare skin condition that the King of Pop steadfastly maintained he had?
White patches of skin under Prince Michael's arm were noticeably visible when he wore swim trunks on a recent Hawaiian vacation, prompting speculation that the skin-bleaching disorder vitiligo could be the cause.
Michael Jackson said the condition was to blame for the gradual but steady lightening of his own skin and with his 13-year-old son displaying similar symptoms, skeptics who question the paternity of Jackson's children may finally be convinced that the singer really was the teen's biological father.
But vitiligo, an autoimmune disease, is not always an inherited disorder, Dr. Doris Day, an attending dermatologist at Lenox Hill Hospital, told the Daily News.
"Getting vitiligo because a parent has it could happen," she said. "But it's not necessarily a direct correlation."
Parents can pass down the propensity for an autoimmune condition, but the child of a parent with one autoimmune condition could just as easily have another autoimmune disease or none at all.
In an autoimmune disorder, the body attacks itself. In vitiligo, the person's own immune system attacks the melanin in the skin, which is what determines skin color, explained Dr. Kent Holtorf.
"Vitiligo often starts in adolescence or early adulthood," he said. "Sometimes just a little virus can set it off."
Source: NY Daily News
White patches of skin under Prince Michael's arm were noticeably visible when he wore swim trunks on a recent Hawaiian vacation, prompting speculation that the skin-bleaching disorder vitiligo could be the cause.
Michael Jackson said the condition was to blame for the gradual but steady lightening of his own skin and with his 13-year-old son displaying similar symptoms, skeptics who question the paternity of Jackson's children may finally be convinced that the singer really was the teen's biological father.
But vitiligo, an autoimmune disease, is not always an inherited disorder, Dr. Doris Day, an attending dermatologist at Lenox Hill Hospital, told the Daily News.
"Getting vitiligo because a parent has it could happen," she said. "But it's not necessarily a direct correlation."
Parents can pass down the propensity for an autoimmune condition, but the child of a parent with one autoimmune condition could just as easily have another autoimmune disease or none at all.
In an autoimmune disorder, the body attacks itself. In vitiligo, the person's own immune system attacks the melanin in the skin, which is what determines skin color, explained Dr. Kent Holtorf.
"Vitiligo often starts in adolescence or early adulthood," he said. "Sometimes just a little virus can set it off."
Source: NY Daily News
Kevin Eason is a freelance editorial cartoonist and Illustrator from New Jersey. His brand of satire covers news events in politics, entertainment, sports and much more.
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