Vitiligo

Vitiligo is a skin condition.  It occurs when the normal pigmentation color is lost and white patches develope.  The condition can affect various parts of the body, including the face, legs, arms, back and more. Vitiligo affects one in every 100 people, or about two million people in the United States. The cause of the pigmentation loss is currently not firmly grounded in evidence and therefore remains somewhat unknown.  Some theories include autoimmune disease, sunburn, genetic factors and others, but no hard and fast evidence has been found.  Some suspect that Vitiligo is also inherited.  If a child’s parent experiences the disease, the child is more likely to develop it as well.

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The disease can be found in people of various skin shades. However, those with darker skin will exhibit results that are more pronounced.  Half of the people who suffer from the disease do so as early as before the age of 20, the other half before the age of 40.  Vitiligo affects both men and women.   The two types of Vitiligo are non-segmental and segmental.  The non-segmental variety is more common.

Signs that a person has the disease are loss of pigmentation on areas of the skin.  This pigmentation loss can appear small at first and then spread and enlarge.  Because the condition can appear everywhere, including the face, Vitiligo is often the cause of embarrassment and shame.  There are organizations that exist to help people who are faced with the condition of Vitiligo.   

There is no permanent cure for the disease of Vitiligo.  Natural ways to treat the disease exist such as waterproof cosmetics or self tanning products, which work well on people with lighter skin.  There are medical treatments available for the disease as well; however none of the medical treatments will make the condition disappear for good. There is also depigmentation therapy aimed at making the skin affected with the disease one color with an even skin tone.

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