E-Mail 'Could Sammy Sosa's Pale Appearance Be the Result of Vitiligo Brought on By Steroid Use?' To A Friend

November 7, 2009 By 37 Comments

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Filed Under: Health and Fitness, MLB Tagged With: MLB, sammy sosa, sammy sosa vitiligo, sammy sosa white, vitiligo
About Jerod Morris

A proud graduate of Indiana University, Jerod Morris founded Midwest Sports Fans in August of 2008 and has been its Managing Editor every day since. Follow him on Twitter (@JerodMorris) for MSF updates, sports discussion, and a compelling daily assortment of funny and interesting links.
In addition to his work at MSF, Jerod hosts the fast-growing Indiana basketball postgame show The Assembly Call and provides regular music recommendations at IndieChristmas.com. He also helped develop the Synthesis Managed WordPress Hosting platform on which MSF and all of his other sites are run.

  • Bobby

    Damn, your sure your research!

    Its funny how his hair is permed too and everything, he has all the white guy set!

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  • Bryan

    this is absurd conjecture.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/JerodMSF JerodMSF

    It is certainly conjecture, but is it really absurd?

    Sosa is a confirmed steroid user and many people I've conversed with about this story immediately wondered whether steroid use could be a precursor for what we're seeing now with Sosa. Based on what I found, and included above, there is really no conclusion to make. Just some vague connections. But I don't think looking into it is absurd. Saying "steroid use will make your skin white" would be absurd.

    Who knows what the cause is for Sosa's radical change. And I doubt we'll ever really find out, so all we have is conjecture at this point.

  • henryv

    Skin colour change can occur as a result of jaundice from the hepatotoxicity of methylated oral steroids. Melanotan is not a steroid, it's a tanning agent.
    This article is poorly researched nonsense.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/JerodMSF JerodMSF

    Henry, thanks for the knowledge. I wasn't trying to say above that melanotan was a steroid, that's just what the forum post was under.

    As I said, I don't know for sure whether steroid use can cause vitiligo or vitiligo-like symptoms, but I wanted to at least post some of the connections I found. I'm hoping that people more in the know than me will use the comment section to put forth anything they know on the topic. Because one thing I do know is that many sports fans will immediately make the connection in their own minds, considering Sammy's checkered past with respect to steroids. I'm hoping we can provide as much info on the topic and question as possible.

  • http://twitter.com/injuryexpert @injuryexpert

    Jerod – there's no evidence that anabolic steroids cause vitiligo. Patches? Sure, but there doesn't appear to be the light and dark shading evident in vitiligo. Sammy's just lighter. The thing to really note is that if A=B, you don't expect B to happen years later, after A has likely stopped. I doubt that Sammy's still using steroids now. (Possible? Sure.) If so, why wouldn't we have seen some evidence of this change years ago, during the heaviest usage?

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/JerodMSF JerodMSF

    That's a great point, and I certainly defer to your expertise on a topic such as this. And the timing is probably something I did not weigh enough. Such symptoms probably would have been more prevalent during the height of his steroid usage and I know of no evidence that suggests this.

    Sent from my iPhone

  • Brittany

    I'm thinking sammy has always had green eyes….it was just very hard to tell when he had darker skin…yes darker skinned ppl can have lighter colored eyes!!!!

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  • Strickly Chicks

    I dont know, maybe Sammy was the guinea pig for the "new" roid back in 1999

  • nahamuah

    All of this goes to vindicate Michael Jackson. Has it occured to any of you that Sammy Sosa may have had to take steriods to deal with a vitiligo condition and probably used makeup to cover up the lighter patches and then subsequently underwent depigmentation just like Michael Jackson?

    The trouble with most people that are commenting and jumping to conclusions is that you don't have the facts yet you speak with such conviction as if you know all the answers.

    There is a lot regarding genetics that we all do not know. One of the things that you all need to realize is that most people with mixed African and European ancestry have light and dark patches on their skin so there is nothing like a 100% even skin tone. This is the reason why we occasionally see genetic aberrations such as a dark-colored child from white parents or a caucasian (white) child from parents that are presumably all African (dark-colored). Until you have all the facts and until you go through all of Sammy's photos to see the changes, please hold your judgment.

  • nahamuah

    BTW, I don't believe that most black people want to lose their pigmentation so that they can become white. Not having any pigmentation is akin to being an "albino" which can result in serious burns from sun exposure and other unpleasant skin conditions. Also, the resulting transparent looking skin color is not particularly attractive so I am not sure why anyone would want to go through a lot of hassle in order to have a transluscent skin color.

  • henry r.

    we are guys paying to much att to his skin color………….lets just look at the sweet barbie girl his wife is. (she is hot) . hey sammy……where can i get one of those man?

  • Dan from NY

    To the person who said Sosa may have taken steroids because of vitiligo, that is ridiculous. Steroids are not a known or accepted treatment for the disease.

    To the person who said that Sosa never had any patchiness … how would you know? He could have concealed it with makeup in June when he was shot by a photographer showing his skin color was dark. This photo is circulating on the web along with the latest one where he is white, and if you look closely at that photo there are areas of his skin that look strangely orange (see above his cheeks, under his eyes) and uneven. People with vitiligo commonly use makeup to cover up and that's what Michael Jackson did for years before finally turning white. Even now, Sosa may be using makeup to cover up vestiges of his formerly dark skin.

    Whatever the cause of his skin condition — and I think steroids are a legitimate conjecture — I feel bad for him and wish him well. It must be hell to go through something like this.

  • JustMaria

    I think most of the people who have posted a comment here must be unaware of the issues with skin color that many Domincans have. Not one person posits that he may have done this to himself on purpose. Wake up people! Centuries of domination, imperialism, slavery, colonialism have had a lasting impact on many of the world's populations. If Sammy has Vitiligo, then why did he get green contacts? I think he wants to appear white because he honestly thinks it will make him more attractive.

    If you are not a person of color then you may not be aware of just how deep intra-racism is within certain cultures. It's not just blacks, it's Asians, S.E. Asians almost every people of color around the globe struggles with this issue. Many of them don't reisist it, they see nothing wrong with it. If you think this is all meaningless conjecture. Check out this NPR piece on Colorism in the Caribbean:

    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?stor…

  • Wilmoth

    This article is laughably horrible and would fit in more on theonion.com. It is a true example of poorly researched Internet "journalism." I'll place a high wager that the author of this article has no education in journalism.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/JerodMSF JerodMSF

    Your opinion is appreciated and duly noted. And you would be correct…the author, me, does not have a formal background in journalism. I am blogger whose goal is to create a public forum for discussion about topics I think my readership will be intrigued and entertained by. I wasn't trying to write a perfect article, just address a question I was hearing with info readily available. And it's worked, as we've gotten numerous well informed and insightful comments. Including yours.

    Sent from my iPhone

  • JoeM

    If the Mets sign Sammy, he would be the whitest guy on the team.

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  • Dan from NY

    JustMaria — I don't see how racism in the DR could lead to someone trying to change his skin color to totally white and no where in the article you linked to does it mention such drastic measures. Straightening or lightening one's hair is one thing. But to use the heavy chemicals and medications necessary to turn one's skin totally white is quite another. Besides, he looks like death warmed over right now — or like he's wearing a Halloween mask — and WORSE than he did when his skin was dark. So it's hard to see how his current look is a result of choice. And I don't see how wearing colored contacts — if indeed he even is — would mean he doesn't have vitiligo. No, I think he definitely has the skin disease.

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  • Gimme A Break

    I wish these "journalists" would be responsible and do some RESEARCH before they print these things. If a writer's not willing to do a little legwork on something this simple, what about the big stuff. I do not trust the media.

    VITILIGO DOES NOT HAPPEN LIKE THIS. IT IS NOT DIFFICULT TO FIND ACCURATE INFORMATION ON THIS ILLNESS. There is not one skin disorder that would change a person's skin color so fast. Further, skin is the body's largest organ. If someone's skin is this badly affected by something then their general health would not be good either. He wouldn't be going to events and taking pictures. He would be sick.

    This is not vitiligo or any skin illness. He is bleaching and clearly proud of it. But he looks like an extra in Thriller, ironically. Looks like a corpse.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/JerodMSF JerodMSF

    I don't think people were citing vitiligo saying it would have transformed his entire complexion. I think many people, with their initial reactions shaded by Michael Jackson, felt that Sammy may have had splotches of pigmentation loss due to vitiligo and then underwent treatment to lighten his skin as a result. I suppose we'll never know if this is the case or not. There was a statement yesterday that he is doing some type of skin treatment and didn't mean for it to turn his skin so light. But who knows.

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  • zodiac

    steroid use? wtf!! morons….let's blame it something huh?..it's simple you idiots..he doesn't want to appear to be black..he bleached his skin, that's it, nothing more, nothing less.

  • Powerply184

    it's got to be bleaching. a lot of blacks latino hate the african part of their makeup its sad. Yes i am black dark and proud.

  • powerply184

    agreed.

  • irvin reyes

    he just wants to be white. all his skin is white and even has the permed hair. saw him live last week on Latin Grammys and damn did he change. why sammy? why?

  • maddy

    as a dominican woman i cant not believe what he did!!!!!!!!!!! is a shame.

  • Lynne

    Dan, finally someone writes a post that makes sense and isn't completely ignorant! I am a 27 year old white female with a few patches of vitiligo. I noticed my first white spot 5 years ago and was completely devastated. You are right, we don't know if Sosa has been suffering and covering up his vitiligo all this time. I cover up my white spots and the majority of my friends have no idea I have the disease. I wish him well too. I can't imagine being a dark skinned person, especially in the lime light, suffering from this disease. I hope he comes out and talks about the disease if this is the cause. People need to be more educated and stop assuming so much about people who suffer with it.

  • Marcia

    What would you do if you started developing stark white spots all over your dark skin?

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  • Fred Salinas

    he's looking more like the late Michael Jackson…

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  • lewis

    If in fact Sammy Sosa does have vitiligo it is not a laughing matter, vitiligo is very depressing and embarrassing for most people. It is an uncontrollable skin condition where the melanocytes (the cells that produce the pigment) are destroyed by what scientists think is the autoimmune system.
    Scientists believe that the autoimmune system recognizes these melanocytes as a harming possibly bacteria like growth that needs to be destroyed. It is literally a glitch in the body and it is a total mystery as to why and how it starts and there is NO cure for vitiligo. So often, people that are 80-90% covered with the white patches usually have the rest of their skin lightened to make one's skin completely uniformed.

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