Apart from doing the actual job of playing football on the pitch, there’s massive demand to keep yourself ready for the cameras has become a facade for modern-day ballers.
Jude Bellingham, being one of the torch-bearers of the modern game is no exception to this rule but his recent pictures are making the fans wonder what exactly happened to his face.
This question ran rampant on the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter):
In November last year, thin brown lines started emerging on Bellingham’s upper lip.
That gradually turned darker in his pictures from the Saudi Arabia trip for the Super Cup in November and the Laureus Award ceremony in April.
Since then, the spots only grew and now it occupies a fair bit of his face, including his forehead, jaw and the surrounding area of his mouth.
The spots are very similar to pigmentation, to be precise hyperpigmentation. The dark patches potentially a specific skin condition called, ‘Melasma.’
The word ‘Melasma’ means black spots and is caused by the overproduction of melanin, the substance that determines our skin and hair colour.
People living close to the equatorial line have darker skin tones due to overexposure to the sun, while people living closer to the axis poles have a whiter skin tone. Keep this in mind as it’ll come in handy later. Now with the geography out of the way, let’s dive deeper.
Why is this coming now? It wasn’t visible during his time with Dortmund. The reason can be due to prolonged exposure to the Spanish weather after his move from the colder weather of England via Germany.
The heat factor is important here as it is considerably higher in the Spanish capital of Madrid compared to Birmingham and Dortmund.
“It’s why melasma shows up on the most sun-exposed areas of the face and why it’s worse in the summer than in the winter,” dermatologist, Dr Nazanin Saedi told SELF. Quite obviously, life in Madrid has its downsides as well.
Melasma is predominantly seen in women, but cases of men having it are not rare. We’ve only seen Bellingham’s face, so we can only assume he might be suffering from centrofacial melasma. Oh wait, we’ve seen Bellingham without his shirts, or, matter of fact, his pants during a recent photo shoot.
The 20-year-old recently posed for Kim Kardashian’s Skims brand. Thanks to his supermodel girlfriend, Laura Celia Valk, Jude coasted through the fashion assignment with flying colours. No signs of melasma were found in the pictures, but that could be thanks to the handy work of the world-class make-up artist on the sets.
Coming back to the subject, one might wonder how to cure this condition. Sadly, there’s no permanent cure to this. Through medication and skin care, the spots can only be suppressed. The good thing is, it can go away on its own, but if it is caused by a genetic issue, it can stay a lifetime.
If someone from Bellingham’s family had or still suffers from the condition, it is highly likely that the midfielder will have to carry it with him as well.
As of the time of writing, Bellingham has not disclosed any details about it publicly, but a break after the tournament could help. With lower exposure to sunlight and applying around-the-clock sunscreen can have transformational effects and, during the winter, the black spots get reduced to their minimum visibility.
For Bellingham, all the focus is currently on England as he opened the Three Lions’ account on Sunday in Euro 24 game against Serbia. Bringing football home can finally add to the already glittering season he’s having following the La Liga and Champions League success with the Los Blancos.