Tyla arrived at the MTV Video Music Awards 2026 wearing a daring Mowalola outfit that left much of her abdomen exposed. But as photos of the singer circulated online, some users decided to do something the internet does far too well: zoom in on every last detail.
And then the speculation began.
In enlarged images, you can see several small dark spots around her abdomen and belly button. Some users even wondered whether it could be an infection or even a sexually transmitted disease. ““Is that ringworm?”” one person wrote, while another was much more direct: ““I think it’s irritation from shaving””.
And that second explanation makes sense as a general possibility, although it’s not possible to diagnose Tyla just by looking at a photo.
So-called ingrown hairs appear when a hair that has been shaved, waxed, or plucked grows back and curls into the skin. They can cause small bumps, some of which are darker than the surrounding skin. They are also especially common in people with very curly hair, since the curve of the follicle can make the hair grow back into the skin.
So while the internet turned a few small spots into all kinds of theories, the image alone doesn’t reveal what they really were.
The curious thing is that a red carpet photo once again ended up proving that when millions of people have access to an image and can zoom in down to the tiniest detail, any small detail of a celebrity’s body can become a viral mystery.