Lee Thomas: Turning white on TV

Thomas says that when he first developed vitiligo he thought his career was finished.

US TV anchorman Lee Thomas has talked to Outlook about the skin condition that has threatened his career.

Thomas is a black American who suffers from vitiligo - a skin-pigment disorder which is gradually turning his skin white.

He described to Outlook presenter Fred Dove how he'd first detected the disease 15 years ago when he was already working as a news anchor.

Listen to Lee Thomas on Outlook

"I was sitting in a barber chair getting my hair cut," he said, "And it looked like the barber messed up. I grabbed a mirror and looked very closely and there was a white spot on my scalp.

"I called my mum and she said that it was a stress mark and that it would go away - and it did partially go away but then two others came up on the other side of my scalp.

"Then I got one on the corner of my mouth and that's when I went to the doctor - probably a year later.."

Thomas said that he was devastated when the doctor told him that he was suffering from vitiligo.

"I went to the doctor's while I was at work - it was my lunchbreak - so I had to walk around and get my head together before I went back to work.

"I thought it was the end of a dream - and I was thinking of other things I was going to do to sustain a living because I really thought it was going to be over."

Thomas said that he told his boss early on and told him that at some point he might have to leave. However his boss was supportive and then his sister urged him to be more positive, and to stop any thoughts of leaving his job.

"That was a big shift for me," he said, "Because I'm a pretty positive guy and having this was starting to kill my personality. That's when the fight began to regain my positive demeanour."

Away from the office, Thomas said that his condition meets with a variety of responses.

"I could go into a store with make-up on and people would say 'hey you're Lee Thomas from TV, how are you doing?'

"I could go into the same store the next day with no make-up on and the exact same people wouldn't even ask me if I needed help."

Thomas said that he found it difficult to talk to women.

"I had been a guy who could walk up and talk to any woman, but it got pretty bad when my face got taken over with the disease. I just completely stopped. I stopped even trying."

Now however he related to Fred Dove that he's regained his confidence, he now has a 'beautiful girlfriend' and he has taken on a mission to educate people about his condition.

"It seems that I've been offered a global platform to educate people about this disease vitiligo. It's not life-threatening. It's not contagious. But it is psychological warfare."

Thomas' book is called Turning White - a Memoir of Change.

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