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Pigment Disorders and Pigment Manipulations

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The Melanin Millennium

Abstract

Diseases of the pigment system are common worldwide. They may cause a decrease in quality of life, especially in people of color. Moreover, in some people of color, a normal skin itself can cause problems because these individuals do not accept their natural dark color and strive for a lighter complexion to hopefully increase their quality of life. Skin bleaching is an effort among some people of color to acquire a lighter skin and is common in practically all parts of the world where people of color live. It is generally accepted that skin bleaching is essentially based on racism. Furthermore, there are indications that diseases of the pigment system are racialized. It is important to note that this idea of pigmentary diseases being racialized is a hypothesis, one that is worthwhile to investigate further because it might increase our understanding of the psychosocial structure and context of people with these diseases, thereby helping to improve our (professional) approach toward them.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In the context of this chapter, pigment manipulations are defined as (generally nonmedical) procedures to deliberately induce a permanent change in the appearance (regarding pigmentation or skin color) of the normally pigmented skin in a person without a pigmentary disorder (skin bleaching is one example; tattooing is another).

  2. 2.

    Many individuals dislike certain features of their own physiognomy and body profile, like the shape of the eyes, the texture of the hair, and the size of genital parts (all related to identity); these features are psychologically not accepted by them. This is not restricted to people of color. Although this issue is, in terms of changing one’s appearance and hence one’s identity, related with the phenomenon of skin bleaching, it is not per se connected with pigmentation; therefore, we are not going to address it in this chapter.

  3. 3.

    See “How and why did Bob Marley die?” by Megan Romer. http://worldmusic.about.com/od/genres/f/BobMarleyDeath.htm

  4. 4.

    Davie-Odigie refers to a news item by Andrew Malone, published in Mail Online. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1215949/The-albino-tribe-butchered-feed-gruesome-trade-magical-body-parts.html

  5. 5.

    This information is from BBC news, 17 December 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7148673.stm

  6. 6.

    The terms “skin bleaching” and “skin whitening” are used by the author—and many others—as synonyms. However, there is a trend to use the word “bleaching” when strong products are applied, which are more often related with side effects and the word whitening when “weaker” products are applied. The pharmaceutical industries and physicians tend to speak of bleaching, while the cosmetic industry is using the term whitening. The difference is, of course, gradual.

  7. 7.

    “Presenting” or “to present” is to come forward or undergo initial medical examination for a particular condition or symptom.

  8. 8.

    Another pigment-related side effect of hydroquinone is leucoderma en confetti, that is, the appearance of speckled vitiligo-like white spots, phenomenologically just the opposite of exogenous ochronosis.

  9. 9.

    A summary can be found online, at the Nivel Institute: www.nieuwsbank.nl/inp/2003/09/24/r211.htm

  10. 10.

    This “aggressive” marketing of skin-bleaching cosmetics resembles to some extent the marketing of the tobacco industry and of certain divisions of the food industry.

  11. 11.

    This report of Southeast Asia is based on the author’s personal observations in 2011.

  12. 12.

    Frantz Fanon wrote Black Skin, White Masks, originally published in 1952 in French; the French title reads: Peau noire, masques blancs.

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  1. Department of Dermatology, Sint Franciscus Gasthuis, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Henk E. Menke

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  1. School of Social Work, Michigan State University, Baker Hall 254, East Lansing, 48824, Michigan, USA

    Ronald E. Hall

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Menke, H.E. (2013). Pigment Disorders and Pigment Manipulations. In: Hall, R. (eds) The Melanin Millennium. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4608-4_12

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