Vitiligo is a skin condition, where there is progressive depigmentation of
the skin. Often shrouded by myths and misconceptions, read on to know in detail
about its causes, symptoms, and treatment.
Vitiligo , also termed as Leucoderma, is a common skin disorder affecting a percent or more of the world's population. It is a distressing skin disease wherein the sufferer develops white patches on face, hands, legs, and other areas of the body due to gradual loss of the pigment melanin from the skin layers. The condition can be embarrassing, especially in people who have dark skin, as these white patches look extremely ugly.
Causes of vitiligo
The actual cause of this condition is still unknown, but surely, beliefs like eating unhealthy or wrong food combination like fish and milk, pumpkin and milk, onion and milk, or any citrus or acid foods after milk are not the reasons. This problem mainly occurs when the skin stops producing melanin, a skin pigment that protects the skin from harsh sun radiations. As a result, the skin areas that are deprived of this pigment start appearing white. However some of the probable causes include:
Symptoms
There are not many symptoms, as the most common and obvious symptom is the appearance of white patches on the skin. These white patches on the skin mostly start showing on the extremities first, with the patches eventually increasing in size and severity. There is often loss of hair in these patches, due to which, if this condition is seen on the scalp, then there are irregular bald patches seen in conjunction with the loss of pigmentation. Depigmentation is also commonly seen around body orifices, like the mouth, eyes, nostrils, etc. Normally, the visible features suffice to reach a diagnosis, but to reach a final diagnosis, it is always better to examine the skin under a special kind of light with the help of a diagnostic tool known as Wood's lamp.
Some others Symptoms of vitiligo are given below:
Treatment for vitiligo
There are various methods of treating vitiligo such as UM-D, phototherapy, skin grafting (especially at the early stages), psoralen photochemotherapy (PUVA), Chinese medicine , immunomodulator creams used with narrowband UVB treatment and laser treatment.
UM-D Treatment holds that control the spread of vitiligo as it first step not the restore of color, because we need to cure the causes of vitiligo not only the symptoms, not like some external use medicines irritate the skin and force it change the color, later it will relapsed again. But our the UM-D treatment take this into consideration, the second the step is restore the color, the third steps is the consolidation treatment, it will decrease the relapse rate of vitiligo.vitiligo is a curable disease, but it need the confidence and patience of vitiligo patient.
Vitiligo , also termed as Leucoderma, is a common skin disorder affecting a percent or more of the world's population. It is a distressing skin disease wherein the sufferer develops white patches on face, hands, legs, and other areas of the body due to gradual loss of the pigment melanin from the skin layers. The condition can be embarrassing, especially in people who have dark skin, as these white patches look extremely ugly.
Causes of vitiligo
The actual cause of this condition is still unknown, but surely, beliefs like eating unhealthy or wrong food combination like fish and milk, pumpkin and milk, onion and milk, or any citrus or acid foods after milk are not the reasons. This problem mainly occurs when the skin stops producing melanin, a skin pigment that protects the skin from harsh sun radiations. As a result, the skin areas that are deprived of this pigment start appearing white. However some of the probable causes include:
- Skin trauma
- Sunburn
- Excessive thinking or mental stress
- Heredity
- Chronic gastric disorders
- Burn injuries
- Jaundice
- Presence of parasites in the alimentary canal
- Defective perspiratory mechanism
- Other illnesses like diabetes, hyperthyroidism and Addison's disease
Symptoms
There are not many symptoms, as the most common and obvious symptom is the appearance of white patches on the skin. These white patches on the skin mostly start showing on the extremities first, with the patches eventually increasing in size and severity. There is often loss of hair in these patches, due to which, if this condition is seen on the scalp, then there are irregular bald patches seen in conjunction with the loss of pigmentation. Depigmentation is also commonly seen around body orifices, like the mouth, eyes, nostrils, etc. Normally, the visible features suffice to reach a diagnosis, but to reach a final diagnosis, it is always better to examine the skin under a special kind of light with the help of a diagnostic tool known as Wood's lamp.
Some others Symptoms of vitiligo are given below:
- Alopecia or loss of hair
- Premature graying of hair
- Along with skin, the hair growing on the affected skin also turns white
- Sensitivity towards cold
- Weakness and fatigue
- Skin irritation when exposed to sun's rays or chemicals
Treatment for vitiligo
There are various methods of treating vitiligo such as UM-D, phototherapy, skin grafting (especially at the early stages), psoralen photochemotherapy (PUVA), Chinese medicine , immunomodulator creams used with narrowband UVB treatment and laser treatment.
UM-D Treatment holds that control the spread of vitiligo as it first step not the restore of color, because we need to cure the causes of vitiligo not only the symptoms, not like some external use medicines irritate the skin and force it change the color, later it will relapsed again. But our the UM-D treatment take this into consideration, the second the step is restore the color, the third steps is the consolidation treatment, it will decrease the relapse rate of vitiligo.vitiligo is a curable disease, but it need the confidence and patience of vitiligo patient.
