Vitiligo

Have you ever heard about an illness named vitiligo? It is a skin condition that causes skin to say "bye bye" its color or pigment. This causes skin to appear lighter than natural skin tone or turn white. The condition happens when body’s immune system devastates melanocytes. Melanocytes are skin cells that produce melanin, the chemical that gives skin its color, or pigmentation. Vitiligo affects all races and sexes equally. It’s more visible in people with darker skin tones. Vitiligo usually starts with a few small white macules or patches that may slowly spread over body. Vitiligo typically starts on hands, forearms, feet and face, but can develop on any part of body, containing mucous membranes (the moist lining of mouth, nose, genital and rectal areas), eyes and inner ears. Sometimes, cosmic patches continue to broaden and spread, but they usually stay in the similar place for years. The location of smaller macules shifts and changes over time, as certain areas of skin lose and regain their pigment. The amount of affected skin varies for each person diagnosed with vitiligo. Some people experience a few depigmented areas, while others have a widespread loss of skin color. There are many types of vitiligo, such as generalized(the most common type of vitiligo that causes macules to appear in various places on body), segmental( type only affects one side of body or one area, such as hands or face), mucosal(affects mucous membranes of mouth and/or genitals), focal(a rare type where the macules develop in a small area and don’t spread in a certain pattern within one to two years), trichome(type causes a bullseye with a white or colorless center, then an area of lighter pigmentation, and an area of your natural skin tone) and universal(rare type of vitiligo causes more than 80% of your skin to not have pigment). To stop vitiligo, medications, light therapy, depigmentation therapy, surgery and counselling are needed. Healthy lifestyle as usual.........Thank you.............