comment area blackened out

Not entirely sure why, but this line in your stylesheet is causing it:
#header:after, #logo:after, #nav:after, #content_box:after, .page .entry:after, #comments:after, dl#comment_list dd:after, #comment_form:after { display: block; height: 0; content: "."; visibility: hidden; clear: both; }

Specifically, removing the dl#comment_list dd:after part of that makes the black go away.

wow, thanks for the quick response! it worked ??

the black area has mysteriously reappeared…any suggestions?
thanks

Change this:
dl#comment_list dt { padding: 0 0 33px 0; background: url('images/comment_top.gif') 0 100% no-repeat; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 1.8182em; color: #999; }

To this:
dl#comment_list dt { padding: 0 0 0 0; background: url('images/comment_top.gif') 0 100% no-repeat; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 1.8182em; color: #999; }

Again, no idea why that works. It just does.

just got your new message but thats not working either. here is what is in my stylesheet for the comment area

/*—:[ comment styles ]:—*/

#comments { width: 46.8em; }

dl#comment_list { margin: 0 0 0 0; }

dl#comment_list dt { padding: 0 0 0 0; background: url(‘images/comment_top.gif’) 0 100% no-repeat; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 1.8182em; color: #999; }

dl#comment_list dt.author { background: url(‘images/comment_author_top.gif’) 0 100% no-repeat; }

dl#comment_list dt .comment_num { padding: 0 0.3636em 0 0; }

dl#comment_list dt .comment_num a, dl#comment_list dt .comment_num a:visited { color: #999; }

dl#comment_list dt .comment_num a:hover { color: #a90000; }

dl#comment_list dt strong { font-size: 1.4545em; color: #000; }

dl#comment_list dt strong a, dl#comment_list dt strong a:visited { color: #000; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999; }

dl#comment_list dt strong a:hover { color: #000; border-bottom: 1px solid #a90000; }

dl#comment_list dd { width: 428px; padding: 0 20px; margin: 0 0 1.5385em; background: #dfdfdf url(‘images/comment_bottom.gif’) 0 100% no-repeat; }

dl#comment_list dd.author { background: #f6f4c9 url(‘images/comment_author_bottom.gif’) 0 100% no-repeat; }

dl#comment_list dd.entry p, dl#comment_list dd.entry ul, dl#comment_list dd.entry ol, dl#comment_list dd.entry blockquote { margin-bottom: 1.1538em; }

/*—:[ comment form styles ]:—*/

#comment_form { width: 46.8em; margin: 0 0 4.0em 0; }

#comment_form a:hover { text-decoration: underline; }

#comment_form p { padding: 0.7692em 0; }

#comment_form label { padding: 0 0 0 0.83333em; font-size: 1.2em; }

#comment_form .text_input { width: 15.3846em; padding: 0.23077em; color: #a90000; font: bold 1.3em Verdana, sans-serif; border-top: 0.15385em solid #999; border-left: 0.15385em solid #999; border-right: 0.07692em solid #eee; border-bottom: 0.07692em solid #eee; }

#comment_form .text_input:focus { border-top-color: #666; border-left-color: #666; border-right-color: #ddd; border-bottom-color: #ddd; }

#comment_form .text_area { width: 32.9231em; }

#comment_form p.subscribe-to-comments { font-size: 1.3em; }

#comment_form p.subscribe-to-comments label { font-size: 1.0em; }

#comment_form .form_submit { padding: 0.5em; background: url(‘images/submit_bg.gif’) repeat-x; color: #000; border: 0.21429em double #999; border-top-color: #ccc; border-left-color: #ccc; font: bold 1.4em/1.0em “Helvetica Neue”, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; cursor: pointer; }

#comment_form .form_submit:hover { color: #a90000; }

/*—:[ self-clearing floats courtesy of Dan Cederholm at simplebits.com ]:—*/

#header:after, #logo:after, #nav:after, #content_box:after, .page .entry:after, #comments:after, #comment_form:after { display: block; height: 0; content: “.”; visibility: hidden; clear: both; }

p img { padding: 4px; max-width: 100%; }

here is the page that isnt working

https://vitiligocover.com/black-pepper-may-help-vitiligo/#comment-1595

thanks for any more help you can offer!