Mark Wahlberg has a superfluous nipple. Morgan Freeman exhibits dark facial bumps. And Whoopi Goldberg lacks even the barest semblance of an eyebrow.
Surprised by these celebrity revelations? You haven't been visiting Skinema, the site that puts famous complexions on display.
San Francisco dermatologist Dr. Vail Reese combined his interest in cinema and skin problems and created Skinema, a no-holds-barred look at celebrities and their skin problems.
Unafraid of offending, he dispenses advice and information on skin problems from burn scars and cancerous lesions to sun damage -- using celebrity pics to illustrate his point. Reese said Skinema was inspired by a classic example of a skin disorder.
"W. C. Fields had a condition called acne rosacea, which can result in a large, bulbous nose," Reese explained. "Rather than go through some long-winded explanation of rosacea's effects, dermatologists could use one picture of Fields, and you would understand rosacea. So I thought if using Fields' picture worked, why not look for other examples of celebrities with skin problems?"
Thus Skinema was born and thus it grew. Now the derma doc's site turns a Web microscope on scores of celebs like Robert Redford, Marilyn Monroe, Jean-Claude Van Damme and, of course, Michael Jackson, whose now two-year-old vitiligo page still gets a couple of letters a week from Jackson foes and fans.
Reese said he's not trying to be rude in his virtual epidermis exams, he's trying to educate the public about skin problems.
"I use the site to try to correct misinformation," Reese said. "These are things anyone can see. You can clearly see Mark Wahlberg's extra nipple in his Calvin Klein ads. I didn't tell him to take off his shirt! I didn't tell Jean-Claude Van Damme to keep that big lump on his forehead! I'm simply trying let people with skin conditions know that there are other people who share their problems and to inform them about treatments."
Oh, and not inconsequentially, Reese added, "I'm also trying to maybe make people laugh."
With the photo collection and commentary Reese has compiled, that's not difficult. Poring over the pages brings shots of gleaming bronzed buck George Hamilton ("Overexposure to the sun cannot be considered healthy," frowned Dr. Reese); acne-scarred Elizabeth Hurley ("Bravo that a woman with acne scars is super-modeling"); and Brad Pitt's zits, to name a few of the celebrity skins on display.
Lucky for Reese, none of the celebs have yet had their lawyers send cease-and-desist orders. And he's not worried that they're in the mail. "These are not paparazzi images, they're all publicity photos released by the celebrities and their employers and representatives. These are all things which anyone could get and see. I don't show anything which is not readily visible," Reese pointed out. "The site is very educational, it's not just celebrity gossip."
Nonetheless, representatives for Whoopi Goldberg, Richard Gere, and James Woods refused to comment on either their famous employers' skin specifics or the Skinema site. Dermatology professionals who saw Skinema were more enthusiastic about the possibilities of looking at famous carapaces.
Gretchen Murphy, publisher of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology thinks that looking at celebrities' skin problems can indeed be edifying.
"You know these people," Murphy said. "You see them on film and scrutinize their skin like anything else about their appearance, their wardrobe, or whatever. We relate to celebrities and since skin diseases and disorders are so apparent people are going to tune into that. If looking at these celebrities can help educate the layperson and make them familiar with skin diseases, then this is a good way to do it."
Murphy echoed Reese's belief that people with skin disorders are stigmatized in society partly because of negative cinematic portrayals. "People who have burn scars, for instance. It's rarely their fault they've been burned, but others may still look at them like they did something wrong."
With that in mind, Reese also devotes a section of Skinema to the examination of skin disorders used to connote evil in film characters.
Would The Simpsons' Mr. Burns look so malevolent without his scalp keratoses, or Star Wars' Evil Emperor be so obviously evil without his wrinkly, abnormally yellow skin? Reese said real people with skin disorders are unfairly stereotyped by the ubiquitous use of villains with obvious skin disorders.
"In the movies it's pretty much automatic that characters with say, leprosy, or albinism, or large scars are the ones to watch out for," Reese said. "Sympathetic scarred characters, like the main character of The English Patient, are rare.
"For instance, out of 60 to 70 movies which feature characters with albinism, only two are otherwise normal people," Reese said. "I receive email from people with albinism who have a terrible time with the way they're perceived. People expect them to be evil, like the albino character in Foul Play, or mystical like the character in Powder. I hope with Skinema I can raise awareness and raise the consciousness of the general public."
Glamour make-up, gentle lighting, and soft-focus shots may fool the public but watch out Hollywood: If you have a scar, a growth, or a zit, Reese is looking for you.
