African-American Jasmine Colgan says that the condition that has uncontrollably turned her skin a patchy white is the “best thing that ever happened”.
A woman has used tattoos to embrace the condition that saw her dark skin turn white uncontrollably and says it is “the best thing that ever happened” – despite the difficulties it has caused in her love life.
Jasmine Colgan, 29, who is of Ghanaian and Irish heritage, told of how a smattering of white dots appeared out of the blue on her arms and legs back in 2011.
At first, she wasn’t especially worried – but within months, the marks had spread to her face and elsewhere, transforming vast patches of her skin from its natural brown colour to a Caucasian white, causing her self-esteem to plummet.
Diagnosed with vitiligo – where a lack of melanin causes pale white patches to appear on the skin – in 2011, she eventually embraced the condition by tattooing rings around the marks it left.
But sadly, though she has finally rebuilt her confidence, she has found her love life affected.
Jasmine, an artist of Denver, Colorado, USA, said: “I have had dating issues in the past as I think for men particularly, it can be difficult for them to see beyond the surface.”
She continued: “People don’t cherish difference as much as they should do, and I’m really proud of my skin because it makes me who I am.”
She added: “But I am not worried because I know that I am still the same strong person I have always been, and one day I will meet someone who sees that.”
Jasmine told of how she was studying photography, aged 21, at the University of Colorado Denver in June 2011, when she first noticed the white speckling on her legs and arms.
Thinking that perhaps it was just freckling, she decided, at first, not to visit her doctor.
Within two months, though, the patches spread to her face, back and fingers.
Recalling the onset of the drastic and sudden alteration in her appearance, Jasmine said: “It was absolutely terrifying.”
She continued: “It was very difficult trying to come to terms with it for a long time, because the way you look is changing very obviously and you have no control over it real life healthwhatsoever.”
Taking to the internet, Jasmine soon found a page about vitiligo, and became convinced that was what she had.
Still, she hoped that, if she sought medical help, she would be able to secure some form of treatment that would revert her skin back to its normal colour.
However, that did not happen.
In August 2011, a doctor officially confirmed her condition as vitiligo, and prescribed steroid cream to attempt to stimulate the production of melanin – but it made little difference.
From there, she underwent eight months of phototherapy treatment at Anschutz Medical Campus in Colorado – where fluorescent lightbulbs were used to treat her skin condition, something Jasmine was willing to go through for a time, even though it carries a risk of skin cancer according to the NHS.
But when that also failed to make a difference to her appearance, and the patches continued to expand, Jasmine, who, at one time had been an aspiring model, fell into a deep pit of depression.
“It was really tough knowing that you haven’t changed at all in yourself, but when you look in the mirror you see a totally different person,” she admitted candidly.
“People started to stare a lot at me in the street, and that became hugely uncomfortable, walking into a room and knowing that there are all of these eyes on you.”
She added: “And people can be cruel too. Someone once told me I look like a cow, which was pretty hurtful.”
The hardest part, however, was the feeling that she was losing her connection to her African ancestry as her skin tone became more and more akin to a Caucasian person’s.
She added: “I am very proud of where I come from and my family’s Ghanaian roots, so it was upsetting to see that very visibly disappearing in me.”
Over time, though, Jasmine began to embrace her unique complexion by incorporating it into her artwork by tattooing around the spots every six months, documenting their growth “like rings of a tree”.
“I know that by the time I’m 50 I will probably be completely white, so having these tattoos on my arms is a visual document of how my condition develops,” she said.
“It has made me realise that I’m so lucky to have this unique thing happen to me. It’s like an organic artwork all over my body – and that’s really special.”
Now, Jasmine has also produced a series of striking self-portraits, featuring herself with a backdrop of traditional Ghanaian artefacts, as a way to “reconnect” with her heritage.
As her patches continue to grow at a rate of around 1mm every six months, she said the condition has made her a “better and wiser person” and insists she would not change it if she had the chance.
She explained: “It took me about four years to really accept the new image of myself and understand that this is who I am now.”
Jasmine continued: “But now I feel so lucky to have been affected by the condition as it has made me want to help others, who may be struggling with the way they look, to feel empowered in themselves.
“Honestly, if I could wave a magic wand and make the vitiligo go away today, I wouldn’t because I know I am a much wiser and better person as a consequence of it.”
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An Emirati diplomat earlier identified by Tehran as carrying a letter from U.S. President Donald Trump seeking to jump-start talks over Iran's rapidly advancing nuclear program met Wednesday with Iran's foreign minister in the Iranian capital.
It is unclear how Iran will react to the letter, which Trump revealed during a television interview last week. Its intended recipient, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said he's not interested in talks with a “bullying government.”
But Iran struggles with economic woes exacerbated by U.S. and Western sanctions over its nuclear program, and Trump has imposed more since he took office in January. That pressure, coupled with internal turmoil in Iran and recent direct attacks by Israel, has put Tehran in one of the most precarious positions its theocracy has faced since its 1979 Islamic Revolution.
“America threatens with military action, but in my opinion, this threat is irrational,” Khamenei said earlier Wednesday. “Iran is capable of delivering a reciprocal blow, and it will certainly do so.”
Iranian state television showed Emirati official Anwar Gargash meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran. Gargash's visit had not been previously announced. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman earlier said he'd be carrying the letter from Trump. The UAE, home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, maintains close ties with the United States.
The brief footage shot before the meeting did not show the letter. Gargash and the UAE government did not acknowledge his trip during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan and did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump last week acknowledged writing a letter to the 85-year-old Khamenei.
“I’ve written them a letter saying, ‘I hope you’re going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily, it’s going to be a terrible thing,'” Trump said in the interview.
Trump has offered no details on what, if anything, was specifically offered to Iran in the letter.
The move recalled Trump’s letter-writing to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in his first term, which led to face-to-face meetings but no deals to limit Pyongyang’s atomic bombs and a missile program capable of reaching the continental U.S.
The last time Trump tried to send a letter to Khamenei, through the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2019, the supreme leader mocked the effort. Abe ended up slipping the envelope under his leg in footage widely shared by Iranian state media to this day.
On Wednesday before Gargash's arrival, Khamenei spoke to students during a ceremony in Tehran and called Trump's letter "an attempt to deceive global public opinion.”
“This person tore apart and threw out of the window finished and completed, and signed, talks," Khamenei said. “How could one possibly negotiate with such a person?”
He added: “If we wanted to build a nuclear weapon, America couldn’t stop us.”
Trump’s overture comes as Israel and the United States have warned they will never let Iran acquire a nuclear weapon, leading to fears of a military confrontation as Tehran enriches uranium at near weapons-grade levels of 60% purity — something only done by atomic-armed nations.
Iran has long maintained its program is for peaceful purposes, even as its officials increasingly threaten to pursue the bomb as tensions are high with the U.S. over its sanctions and with Israel as a shaky ceasefire holds in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Israel and Iran have traded direct attacks during the Israel-Hamas war, while partners in Tehran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance” are reeling after the assassinations of their leaders by Israel. In Israel, officials have suggested striking Iran’s nuclear program now, something Trump has threatened while insisting he’d prefer reaching a diplomatic deal with Tehran.
Since Trump returned to the White House, his administration has said Iran must be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons. A report last month by the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog said Iran has accelerated its production of near weapons-grade uranium.
Trump’s first term in office was marked by a particularly troubled period in relations with Tehran. In 2018, he unilaterally withdrew the United States from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, leading to sanctions hobbling Iran’s economy. Iran retaliated with attacks at sea — including one that it likely carried out and that temporarily halved Saudi Arabia’s oil production.
Trump also ordered the attack that killed Iran’s top general in a Baghdad drone strike in January 2020.
It is unclear how Iran will handle further pressure. The Islamic Republic’s currency, the rial, has dramatically fallen in value. Unemployment and underemployment are rampant. Meanwhile, women have continued their defiance of laws on the mandatory headscarf, or hijab, and go without the head covering, two years after the death of a detained young woman, Mahsa Amini, sparked nationwide protests.
Associated Press writers Amir Vahdat and Mehdi Fattahi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei listens to a speaker during a meeting with students, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with students, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attends a ceremony meeting a group of officials, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attends a ceremony meeting a group of officials, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in a ceremony meeting a group of officials, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks under a portrait of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, as armed forces commander listen, at rear, in a ceremony meeting a group of officials, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
