Vitiligo
What is Vitiligo
Vitiligo is a skin condition that can cause your skin to start to lose its color—while some people will develop just a few spots that lose their color, others will turn completely white. It can develop on any part and comes in a few different forms known as generalized, acrofacial, localized, and universal. While for some people their skin will slowly start to return to its own pigment, for some people the color will never fully return without some form of therapy to help move the process along.
Typically, a diagnosis of vitiligo is delivered by simply examining the skin and looking at a rough medical history. The other main symptom besides your skin losing its color would be an inflammation of the eye known as uveitis, which can be painful and extremely discomforting to live with.
This long-term skin condition has no predicted spread and can change from person to person, making it extremely difficult to combat or prepare for. Most commonly, though, it’s seen on the neck, hands, and face because they tend to be the most exposed to the sun, which can accelerate the process.
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What Causes Vitiligo
It’s caused by a lack of skin pigmentation known as melanin, although there can be other underlying factors that exaggerate or accelerate the process. For example, 20% of vitiligo sufferers do so because of a family member who also had the condition. The actual underlying cause, though, is due to the lack of melanin in your skin. Melanin is produced by melanocytes, and if your body has an insufficient amount of these, it will stop producing the required amount of melanin.
The issue is nobody knows why this actually happens. At the moment, lots of research has to be carried out into the long-term causes of vitiligo and how this can actually be managed and manifest in the right manner. For any sufferers of vitiligo, the best solution is to look for a cosmetic treatment that can help dull the effects of the condition itself and help to reduce how noticeable it is in certain areas.
How Can We Help You?
At Don S. Shalhub, MD, we are specialists at minimizing the effects of vitiligo. The treatments that are available are all to do with restoring your overall appearance, although the majority of the time they won’t be permanent and will therefore require reapplication in the future.