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) — As Iran returned to uneasy calm after a wave of protests that drew a bloody crackdown, a senior hard-line cleric called Friday for the death penalty for detained demonstrators and directly threatened U.S. President Donald Trump — evidence of the rage gripping authorities in the Islamic Republic.
Trump, though, struck a conciliatory note, thanking Iran's leaders for not executing hundreds of detained protesters, in a further sign he may be backing away from a military strike. Executions, as well as the killing of peaceful protesters, are two of the red lines laid down by Trump for possible action against Iran.
Harsh repression that has left several thousand people dead appears to have succeeded in stifling demonstrations that began Dec. 28 over Iran’s ailing economy and morphed into protests directly challenging the country’s theocracy.
There have been no signs of protests for days in Tehran, where shopping and street life have returned to outward normality, though a week-old internet blackout continued. Authorities have not reported any unrest elsewhere in the country.
“Iran canceled the hanging of over 800 people,” Trump told reporters in Washington, adding that "I greatly respect the fact that they canceled.”
Trump did not clarify who he spoke to in Iran to confirm the state of any planned executions.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency on Friday put the death toll at 3,090. The number, which exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the 1979 revolution, continues to rise. The agency has been accurate throughout the years of demonstrations, relying on a network of activists inside Iran that confirms all reported fatalities.
The AP has been unable to independently confirm the toll. Iran’s government has not provided casualty figures.
In contrast, the sermon by Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami carried by Iranian state radio sparked chants from those gathered for prayers, including: “Armed hypocrites should be put to death!”
Khatami, a member of Iran's Assembly of Experts and Guardian Council long known for his hard-line views, described the protesters as the “butlers” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “Trump’s soldiers.” He said Netanyahu and Trump should await "hard revenge from the system.”
“Americans and Zionists should not expect peace," the cleric said.
His fiery speech came as allies of Iran and the United States alike sought to defuse tensions. Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke Friday to both Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Israel's Netanyahu, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Russia had previously kept largely quiet about the protests. Moscow has watched several key allies suffer blows as its resources and focus are consumed by its 4-year-old war against Ukraine, including the downfall of Syria’s former President Bashar Assad in 2024, last year’s U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran and the U.S. seizure of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro this month.
Days after Trump pledged “help is on its way” for the protesters, both the demonstrations and the prospect of imminent U.S. retaliation appeared to have receded. One diplomat told The Associated Press that top officials from Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar had raised concerns with Trump that a U.S. military intervention would shake the global economy and destabilize an already volatile region.
Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi urged the U.S. to make good on its pledge to intervene. Pahlavi, whose father was overthrown by Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, said he still believes the president's promise of assistance.
“I believe the president is a man of his word," Pahlavi told reporters in Washington. He added that "regardless of whether action is taken or not, we as Iranians have no choice to carry on the fight.“
“I will return to Iran,” he vowed. Hours later, he urged protesters to take to the streets again from Saturday to Monday.
Despite support by diehard monarchists in the diaspora, Pahlavi has struggled to gain wider appeal within Iran. But that has not stopped him from presenting himself as the transitional leader of Iran if the regime were to fall.
Khatami, the hard-line cleric, also provided the first overall statistics on damage from the protests, claiming 350 mosques, 126 prayer halls and 20 other holy places had sustained damage. Another 80 homes of Friday prayer leaders — an important position within Iran's theocracy — were also damaged, likely underlining the anger demonstrators felt toward symbols of the government.
He said 400 hospitals, 106 ambulances, 71 fire department vehicles, and another 50 emergency vehicles also sustained damage.
Even as protests appeared to have been smothered inside Iran, thousands of exiled Iranians and their supporters have taken to the streets in cities across Europe to shout out their rage at the government of the Islamic Republic.
Amid the continuing internet shutdown, some Iranians crossed borders to communicate with the outside world. At a border crossing in Turkey’s eastern province of Van, a trickle of Iranians crossing on Friday said they were traveling to get around the communications blackout.
“I will go back to Iran after they open the internet,” said a traveler who gave only his first name, Mehdi, out of security concerns.
Also crossing the border were some Turkish citizens escaping the unrest in Iran.
Mehmet Önder, 47, was in Tehran for his textiles business when the protests erupted. He said he laid low in his hotel until it was shut for security reasons, then stayed with one of his customers until he was able to return to Turkey.
Although he did not venture into the streets, Önder said he heard heavy gunfire.
“I understand guns, because I served in the military in the southeast of Turkey,” he said. “The guns they were firing were not simple weapons. They were machine-guns.”
In a sign of the conflict’s potential to spill over borders, a Kurdish separatist group in Iraq said it has launched attacks on Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in recent days in retaliation for Tehran’s crackdown on protests.
A representative of the Kurdistan Freedom Party, or PAK, said its members have “played a role in the protests through both financial support and armed operations to defend protesters when needed.” The group said the attacks were launched by members of its military wing based inside Iran.
Amiri reported from New York. Associated Press journalists Will Weissert and Darlene Superville in Washington and Serra Yedikardes at the Kapikoy Border Crossing, Turkey, contributed.
Iranian opposition leader Reza Pahlavi speaks during a news conference on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
A woman crosses an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Vehicles drive in downtown Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A street vendor adjusts clothes for sale in downtown Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Vehicles drive in downtown Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
FILE - Iranian senior cleric Ahmad Khatami delivers his sermon during Friday prayer ceremony in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
