🗸 TRUE. He “bleached” or better – depigmented his skin – to treat his vitiligo.

✗ FALSE. He didn’t bleach his skin without a medical indication.

It is not that easy to bleach skin when you don’t have vitiligo

Medical professionals call the process of lightening the skin in people with vitiligo “depigmentation”, not bleaching. This is not a cosmetic, but a medically and FDA-approved treatment to even out the skin tone.

It is a common misconception that the process of bleaching skin is identical for individuals with vitiligo and those without.

However, due to vitiligo being an autoimmune condition, the immune response to depigmentation varies significantly.

Consequently, bleaching poses greater challenges for individuals with healthy skin, often leading to complications that can be difficult or even impossible to resolve.

Bleaching vs depigmentation therapy

Vitiligo Clinic & Research Center:

But in most cases, using this [Benoquin] cream doesn’t work unless you have vitiligo, so it is not as simple as someone “wanting to look white” and using the cream.

So there is no question that Michael Jackson had vitiligo, by his own admission and according to his autopsy after his death. He did appear to use Benoquin to help depigment his skin, but not because he “wanted to be white”, but as an FDA-approved treatment for his vitiligo.

Dermatologist on why bleaching doesn’t work in healthy individuals:

TL;DR:

• Bleaching skin to turn white: It doesn’t work that way
• Doesn’t work for 30% of patients
• Repigmentation occurs almost always
• Lips almost never lose complete pigmentation
• Inner corners of his eyes (caruncle) changed their color. You can not bleach eyelids/inner eye without threat to eyesight.
• Fingernails sign of bleaching: Fingernails of both Black and white people are pink. MJ’s sometimes discolored nails are due to lupus

This is called depigmentation. We use special treatments to down-regulate pigmentation activity in healthy skin to even out skin tone, eventually making skin color uniform and the contrast less sharp. So yes, technically it is “bleaching” you could say

Skin-Whitening Infopage:

In individuals without vitiligo who bleach their skin with Benoquin it is highly likely that repigmentation occurs after a while, the skin turns darker again. This also happens at times with vitiligo patients, but it happens sooner and more aggressively in people without vitiligo.

Since vitiligo is an autoimmune-disease and people with a healthy immune system react differently, people without vitiligo get spots and patches of darker skin sooner. If that happens, it is likely renewed use of bleaching agents will have no effect, because the skin of healthy individuals has become resistent to even higher dosages of bleaching.¹Spots and patches of pigmentation will start to appear over previously white skin, leading to a patchy appearance. […] to bleach these re-pigmented spots may have no effect […] because the newly re-emerged melanocytes would have become resistant to monobenzone – Source: https://whiterskin.info/skin-bleaching-with-monobenzone/

Michael Jackson’s vitiligo

Katherine Jackson:

Q: How did you feel watching Michael struggle with vitiligo?

KJ: I uh I didn’t exactly understand the disease. I had seen many people with it. And um… there was a aunt in uh on his father’s side in the family that had it also. But um… he found something to do with just to, he didn’t want to be, he always said ‘I don’t want to be spotted like a cow’. You know in his face and also… he found a way to um just take the brown spots out.

I don’t know how they did that and, but it made him… I won’t say how I felt about how it made him, but that to him that was better than just be spotted all over. But under his, his legs and all was still spotted up underside, but he got his chest and his hands and arms and things bleached up.

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🗸 TRUE. Technically you can call it that.

🗸 FALSE. These were prescribed medication.

What was found were not mild cosmetic skin bleaches, but potent depigmentation agents prescribed for medical purposes

After his death Benoquin cream, whose acting agent is MBEH, and hydroquinone were found in MJ’s house. Both are used to depigment skin.

Depigmentation therapy

Health and appearance of Michael Jackson Wikipedia:

Shortly following Jackson’s death, tubes of Benoquin and hydroquinone were found in Jackson’s home. Both creams are commonly used to treat vitiligo; David Sawcer said some patients with vitiligo remove dark areas of skin when most of their skin has become pale. Darkening depigmented skin is also extremely difficult.

Dermatologist on Depigmentation Therapy in vitiligo:

This is called depigmentation.

We use special treatments to down-regulate pigmentation activity in healthy skin to even out skin tone, eventually making skin color uniform and the contrast less sharp.

So yes, technically it is “bleaching” you could say

Depigmentation Therapy for vitiligo:

Monobenzyl ether of hydroquinone. MBEH or monobenzone [Benoquin; JS] is the most commonly used depigmenting agent used in vitiligo.

It is the only depigmentation treatment for extensive vitiligo that has been approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Agency, United States of America).

Benoquin for depigmentation

Benoquin as a treatment for Michael Jackson’s vitiligo:

So there is no question that Michael Jackson had vitiligo, by his own admission and according to his autopsy after his death. He did appear to use Benoquin to help depigment his skin, but not because he “wanted to be white”, but as an FDA-approved treatment for his vitiligo.

One major difference between Benoquin/MBEH and hydroquinone is that Benoquin/MBEH is more permanent than hydroquinone.

FDA Benoquin Cream 20% Label, 2003:

Benoquin Cream 20% contains a potent depigmenting agent and is not a cosmetic skin bleach.

Use […] is contraindicated in any conditions other than disseminated vitiligo. [It] frequently produces irreversible depigmentation, and it must not be used as a substitute for hydroquinone. […]

Benoquin Cream 20% is indicated for final depigmentation in extensive Vitiligo. [It] 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.

Additionally, Benoquin can also induce a systemic lightening reaction.²After a prolonged exposure to the gloves […] the pigmentation changes would start showing up in other areas of the skin that did not touch the gloves. This indicated that a systemic reaction was occurring. […] One important difference between monobenzone and hydroquinone is that monobenzone results in a more permanent depigmentation and can cause a systemic lightening reaction. When monobenzone is used for a period of time it can cause depigmentation to occur in areas of the body distant from where it was applied. Source: https://www.parkcompounding.com/monobenzone-mebh-vs-hydroquinone/,³of the workers in this factory […] several of them also had similar lesions on remote areas that did not contact the gloves […] ability of MBEH to permanently remove skin pigment – Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5362111/

Because of its permanent nature MBEH/benoquin is the strongest vitiligo treatment available while hydroquinone also treats hyperpigmentation and acne scars.⁴MBEH is a derivative of hydroquinone. Unlike hydroquinone, it almost always causes irreversible depigmentation, as it results in death of melanocytes (the cells that make skin pigment or melanin) – Source: https://dermnetnz.org/topics/depigmentation-therapy-for-vitiligo,⁵In general monobenzone use is limited to vitiligo and in studies for treating melanoma. Hydroquinone is the skin lightening ingredient used in most other cases. Source: https://www.parkcompounding.com/monobenzone-mebh-vs-hydroquinone/

Hydroquinone

Differences between benoquin and hydroquinone:

Hydroquinone provides skin lightening that may be considered more reversible than the depigmentation that occurs with MEBH [sic, Benoquin; JS]

Hydroquinone cream:

Hydroquinone is the gold standard for skin lightening when the concern is sun spots, hyperpigmentation, acne scars, melasma, and more. […] Hydroquinone treatment is reversible in most cases.

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✗ Most probably FALSE.

This is a rather new theory: “Michael Jackson did have vitiligo, but he did get it by abusing skin bleaching creams.”

Many reasons speak against that. We’ll have to deep dive for this.

Chemically induced vitiligo only spreads to all areas in 1 in 4 patients.
He had other autoimmune diseases.
There is another case of vitiligo in Jackson’s family.

Benoquin whose acting agent is MBEH and hydroquinone were found in MJ’s house.

Of those two hydroquinone is not known to induce vitiligo.⁶Hydroquinone, a chemical structurally related to MBEH and frequently used in skin-lightening agents, has not been clearly implicated in inducing or exacerbating vitiligo when used for cosmetic purposes. Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5362111/

But bleaching your skin with benoquin cream/MBEH can indeed result in getting chemical vitiligo. ⁷[The] depigmenting effect of the chemical monobenzyl ether of hydroquinone (MBEH) […] these chemicals appear to induce melanocyte autoimmunity, this phenomenon should be known as “chemical-induced vitiligo” – Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5362111/,⁸diagnosed chemical leucoderma […] Monobenzyl ether of hydroquinone (MBEH), an antioxidant used in the rubber industry, was the offending agent. Subsequently, multiple cases of occupational leucoderma induced by phenolic compounds were reported from various countries. Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7810070/,⁹Monobenzone use on someone without vitiligo may end up creating a new “vitiligo” patient […] Often, someone without vitiligo who uses monobenzone in sufficiently high percentages (e.g. 20% monobenzone) and over a long period of time will have to be treated by a doctor as a new “vitiligo” patient as there exists no way yet to reverse the damage caused by monobezone. Source: https://whiterskin.info/skin-bleaching-with-monobenzone/

Chemical vitiligo and vitiligo vulgaris are clinically and histologically indistinguishable. ¹⁰Chemical-induced vitiligo is indistinguishable from vitiligo. […] Chemical leucoderma was previously conceptualized as a distinctly separate disease from vitiligo, which was conventionally accepted as an idiopathic one. Recent scientific exploration has proved beyond doubt that both the ailments are almost similar in etiology, clinical feature and histopathology. Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7810070/,¹¹chemical-induced depigmentation is clinically and histologically indistinguishable from non-chemically induced vitiligo – Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5362111/

Someone can in theory use it, as a result get chemical vitiligo and then go on to use benoquin cream/MBEH and hydroquinone as a treatment for their now very real vitiligo.

A 1 in 4 chance

For that to happen someone exposed to MBEH needs to have a genetic susceptibility to getting vitiligo. And if that is the case, in only 1 in 4 patients chemically induced vitiligo progresses to distant areas not exposed to chemicals. This would have to include areas like eyelids and lips.

Chemical leucoderma denotes an acquired vitiligo-like depigmentation triggered by repeated exposure to specific chemical compounds […]. These chemicals are toxic for melanocytes only in subjects having specific genetic susceptibility to vitiligo.

In chemical vitiligo, loss of melanocytes starts at the site of exposure but in approximately 26% of the patients spreads to distant areas

Limits to bleaching

If the disease doesn’t spread in and of itself there are limits to how far you can come with bleaching in order to achieve a uniformly lightened skin.

One factor is that certain areas are impossible to bleach, for example the lips and the area around the eyes. You can not bleach the area around the eyes without threat to your eyesight. Only vitiligo can completely depigment those body parts which are depigmented in Michael.

So unless his chemically induced vitiligo happened to completely take away the pigment around his eyes and on his lips, for which the likelihood is only 26%, there is nothing he could have done with bleaching.

Vitiligo isn’t just about your skin turning white. Pigment loss can affect various areas of your body including your mucosa (genitals and mouth) and eyes.

First of all, MBEH does not work well on lips. It’s not supposed to be used on the lips/eyes for starters, but even when it is used, there is never ever complete depigmentation. […] even today with all the newer options we have pigmented lips are a huge challenge.

The only way one could lose total pigmentation of the lips is through vitiligo vulgaris. […] I am not saying he never used MBEH on his lips, he may have during his depigmentation phase. But even if he did, loss of total pigment only happens when the disease catches up with you anyway.

More on that in point #1 MJ did bleach his skin↑

Autoimmune diseases

The autopsy report attests chronic lung inflammation.¹²The above findings reflect a depletion of structural and functional reserves of the lung. Reserve depletion is the result of widespread respiratory bronchiolitis and chronic lung inflammation in association with fibrocollagenous scars and organizing/recanalizing thromboemboli of small arteries. Source: https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/251735/autopsy-0001-optimized.pdf

Lung inflammation can occur in systemic lupus. Michael was also diagnosed with lupus.

Both vitiligo and lupus are autoimmune diseases. Which is why autoimmune reactivity is probably the underlying cause and the common denominator.

The combination of vitiligo, arthritis, and lung inflammation raises the concern for an autoimmune disease. In fact, in 1986, Michael Jackson was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)

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Vitiligo in the Jackson family

According to multiple sources vitiligo is prevalent on Joe Jackson’s side of the family.

Katherine Jackson:

there was a aunt on his father’s side in the family that had it also¹³https://realmichaeljackson.com/vitiligo-katherine-jackson/

Heritability of vitiligo:

first degree relatives of patients with vitiligo have a 5–6 fold increased risk of disease

These reasons make bleaching as the cause for his vitiligo less likely.