Vitiligo

Totally off the topic of puppetry for a moment...

Every now and then it comes up in conversation. Usually when I see and old friend that hasn't seen me in ages or when someone new in my life gets brave enough to ask.
"What's up with your hands?"... Or something like that. Recently it's come up in a negative way, not by a friend or anything though, but enough to irk me a bit. I wrote about it on my old blog and explained it, but that blog is closed, so why not go over it again, and maybe go over it a bit more.
It's called Vitiligo.
The simple answers first.
- It's not contagious
- It doesn't hurt
- It is what made Micheal Jackson "go white"
- It's not hereditary.
- 1% of the population has vitiligo

So what is it? According to Google; "Vitiligo is a skin condition in which there is loss of pigment (color) from areas of skin, resulting in irregular white patches that feel like normal skin."

I'm losing the pigment in my skin. Slowly. In most people, like myself, it's first noticeable on the hands, feet, and face. Mostly on the hands for me at first. The skin looks like I got a bad sunburn, then it pealed off and left my skin pale and it just never tanned again. That's how it looks on most people, actually. It can happen suddenly or gradually. In my case it was very sudden. Early summer of 2005 I noticed it on my hands. For the summer it just looked like I tanned funny, and combined with the fact I did burn my hands I didn't think anything of it. Then my summer tan wore off and my hands were still lighter than my skin. Then I noticed it on my feet, and by the next summer I was diagnosed with vitiligo.
Is it treatable? Sure, but I don't want fake orange tans or skin grafts that will eventually turn back anyway...
Since I work so much with my hands a lot of people notice it, and on everyone our hands are always out there to be seen...

Normally I don't think much about it.

It's now caused spots on my neck, around my eyes, mouth, and a few other places, and my hands are whiter than ever. The past week or so it has been a bit of an issue. I've always notice people checking out my hands and so on, and not saying anything about it, but now I've been more or less victimized because of it. Being "different" than others can lead to prejudice, whether it's your religion, your sexual preference, or the most well known prejudice; your skin color. And that's me. Sure I'm a white guy getting whiter and some people (like Republicans*) may think this is great... But for lack of a better way to put it many people are freaked out by my freakyness. I won't get into the details as there are somethings I just won't get into on a blog.

I just figured if you're reading this blog you either know me or know my work and have seen the glow in the dark hands... So I'd fill ya in... I won't eat your babies in their sleep, and even though your religion may say so, I haven't made a deal with the devil... Yet.
I'm just fading away, hahaha...



*That's a joke...