Discoid Lupus

What is lupus?

Discoid lupus: A chronic inflammatory condition limited to the skin, caused by an autoimmune disease. An autoimmune disease occurs when the body’s tissues are attacked by its own immune system. Patients with lupus have unusual antibodies in their blood that are targeted against their own body tissues.

Lupus can cause disease of the skin, heart, lungs, kidneys, joints, and nervous system. When only the skin is involved, as mentioned, the condition is called discoid lupus. When internal organs are involved, the condition is called systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE).

The causes of SLE are unknown. However, heredity, viruses, ultraviolet light, and drugs may all play a role. The disease can affect all ages but most commonly begins from 20-45 years of age. Statistics demonstrate that lupus is somewhat more frequent in African Americans and people of Chinese and Japanese descent.

(As we all know, the Jacksons are African American, but on Katharine’s side of the family they actually contain Chinese descent as well.)

It has never been officially announced or acknowledged as something that he suffered from, but has been sporadically mentioned by doctors he associated with, including Arnold Klein and Deepak Chopra. People with an autoimmune disease have an increased chance of contracting another autoimmune disease, and Michael was a prime example of this as he also had vitiligo. Because he is not publicly connected to this disease I don’t expect much opposition, but in learning of this disorder hopefully people will be able to accept that he had vitiligo as well and did not bleach his skin.

Here are some of the lesser common symptoms of the disease that Michael has been known to have:

• extreme fatigue
• low-grade fever
• loss of appetite
• muscle aches
• arthritis
• ulcers
• achy joints
• anemia
• chest pains
• rashes

These are some of the more severe symptoms are listed below:

• Over half of the people with SLE develop a facial rash (“butterfly rash”) with the characteristics of a red, flat facial rash over the bridge of their nose.

When the butterfly rash began to show up during the Thriller era, it was mistaken as rouge blush he was wearing as part of his make-up. It continued to affect him on and off until about 1985 when it took a break before reappearing during the Bad Era. Since then it has been in remission.

Also in regards to the butterfly rash, scarring is often left across the bridge of the nose, something that we haven’t really seen on Michael. This scarring is largely the reason for his nose jobs over the years, to rid himself of scarring and rejuvenate skin. Apparently, the rhinoplasty we see him with during the thriller era occurred during the time he first got this rash.

• Skin manifestations are frequent and can lead to scarring. In discoid lupus the skin rash is typically found on the face and/or scalp (Michael’s lupus was first discovered on his scalp in 1984 after the Pepsi Burn).

• Skin rashes are usually painless and without itch but often cause alopecia, meaning hair loss (Michael later took to to wearing wigs in the mid-90s to cover this up).
• The facial rash can be worsened by exposure to sunlight, a condition called photo-sensitivity.

Without the umbrellas as a way to shield his skin from the sun, he would’ve worsened both of his disorders, destroyed his skin, and likely ended up with skin cancer.

• Pleuris, when inflammation surrounds the lungs; it can cause chest pain (he mentioned having this in his autobiography, Moonwalk), can cause chest pain (something he had often).

• Poor circulation to the fingers and toes with cold exposure, aka Raynaud’s phenomenon.

Treatments

Because there is no cure to the disorder the objective of treatments is to decrease and relieve symptoms as much as possible depending on how severe the patient’s case is. Some of the treatments used are:

• avoiding sun exposure
• antimalarial medications (hydroxychloroquine/PLAQUINIL and others)
• local cortisone injections
• dapsone
• immune suppression medications

The quote below is taken from an article in New York Daily News from June 16, 1995:

Michael Jackson biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli claims the performer wanted to talk more about the color of his skin during his “Prime Time Live” interview with Diane Sawyer.

The writer says Jackson told him he now has discoid lupus, a nonfatal form of the disease, which requires him to take a medication called hydroxychloroquine. And, according to Jackson, the drug causes vitiligo loss of pigmentation.

N.Y. skin expert Dr. Howard Sobel tells us, “It is possible for chloroquine to cause hypopigmentation, but whether it’s the cause of his problem is hard to tell you. The chloroquine binds to melanin, which is responsible for the pigment of our skin. If that happens, it’s possible to have a whitish area of skin.”

Hydroxychloroquine: Most affective with those faced with symptoms of fatigue, skin involvement, and achy joints and has few side effects. It can be used in team with chloroquine, and is sometimes used to treat vitiligo.

The use of this recommended medication added onto the necessity of Michael being forced to depigment his skin fully in order to treat his vitiligo; any attempts at rejuvenating pigment would’ve otherwise been rendered useless. There is also the fact that Lupus is a more severe disease with a mortality rate and increases chances of contracting disease like cancer because of the weakened immune system.

http://www.medicinenet.com/systemic_lupus/page2.htm#3whatcauses

http://www.medicinenet.com/systemic_lupus/page4.htm#5howis

http://lacienegasmiled.wordpress.com/2009/11/28/michael-jackson-and-discoid-lupus/

Tagged: achy joints, Arnold Klein, arthritis, autoimmune disease, butterfly rash, Deepak Chopra, discoid lupus, lupus, Malar rash, skin disease, skin disorder, SLE, Systemic lupus erythematosus

Posted in: Skin Deep, Uncategorized