The short, tight pants, the white socks, the fedoras, the make-up...Michael Jackson had his own unique style of dress. The wearing of a single sequined glove was perhaps the most recognizable of Michael’s looks. However, the single glove was more than a clever marketing ploy- it was used to cover up his hand, which began to lose skin pigmentation due to a condition called vitiligo.

What is vitiligo? In vitiligo, your skin develops lighter patches due to the loss of melanin, the pigment which helps determine the color of your skin, eyes, and hair. The cells that produce this pigment die or stop producing the pigment, resulting in loss of skin color. While the condition affects people of all races, people with darker skin may have more noticeable and disfiguring results. The condition usually strikes young people between the ages of 10 and 30 years of age. The areas of your skin most exposed to sunlight are usually the first areas to lose pigment, such as the face, neck, hands, arms and feet. Vitiligo can also cause premature greying of the hair, as well as loss of retinal pigment.

There is no known cure for the condition, which is often progressive. For some people the condition will arrest on its own; for others, treatment can slow progression, but will not rid the person of the condition. Various remedies, such as topical steroids, phototherapy, and even skin grafting are available, though many people make do with avoiding the sun, which may worsen the condition, and using make-up to even out the skin tone.

Michael Jackson was often accused of trying to make himself appear "white"; vitiligo may have been the culprit for the increasingly white skin that his accusers loved to ridicule.

Related Links:

Video: Safer Fun in the Sun from Health Guru

Vitiligo from the Mayo Clinic

National Vitiligo Foundation