Vitiligo Treatment
This autoimmune disorder creates irregular white patches on the skin. It's relatively rare, but managing the symptoms with an expert dermatology team can help.
What Is Vitiligo?
Vitiligo causes white patches of irregular shapes and sizes to appear on the skin.
Symptoms of the condition are whitish or creamy areas resulting from decreased levels of melanocytes in the skin. These cells produce melanin, a pigment that determines the patient’s natural skin color. People with this disorder will have white skin patches on their skin that are often irregularly shaped and in various sizes on the body. Although the condition can occur to individuals in every race and in all environments, researchers report that it’s most common in those with darker-toned skin colors.
According to the American Vitiligo Research Foundation, this is a relatively rare condition affecting up to 1% of the world’s population. Scientists have many clues but no one knows with certainty about vitiligo causes. Children before the age of 10 may develop lesions, but the condition is most likely after the age of 30.
Vitiligo Treatment FAQs
Patches appear most commonly on the patient’s neck, arms, armpits, legs, eyes, navel area, genitals, lips, or face, or in areas of the skin previously exposed to the sun. When the patch of skin loses melanocytes, hair follicles on the head, body, brows, and lashes turn grey or white. Some patients may experience relatively sudden grey or white hair growth at the roots. Other patients’ hair grows in grey or white as old hairs are shed.
The condition presents in several degrees of severity:
- General depigmentation occurs when all skin on the skin loses melanocytes and pigmentation.
- Segmental depigmentation means that the skin loses pigmentation on just one side of the body.
- Focal depigmentation occurs when various skin areas, on various body parts, lose skin color.
The number of lesions may increase over time without treatment. Autoimmune disorders frequently present in clusters: patients with this skin condition may have other autoimmune diseases such as alopecia areata, Addison’s Disease, uveitis, or hyperthyroidism. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have identified approximately 100 different autoimmune diseases. A patient with an autoimmune disease or disorder suffers from the body’s continual attack of its own cells. In this disease, the patient’s body sends attacking cells called cytokines to the melanocytes. The melanocytes eventually die and decrease in number until white or light colored patches appear on the patient’s skin.
Certain vitamin deficiencies can cause the condition to develop in some people, and some researchers recommend nutritional evaluation as part of the patient’s evaluation and treatment. If the patient has nutritional deficiencies, correcting them with proper nutrition can stop the progression of the condition. Goodman Dermatology and providers may order several blood tests to evaluate the potential presence of other conditions.
Researchers aren’t certain about vitiligo causes. The Mayo Clinic believes that genetics or heredity play a factor in the development of the disorder. Medical statisticians say that a parent with vitiligo is more likely to predispose their offspring to developing it at some point in life. Goodman Dermatology will take the patient’s complete medical history during an office appointment.
Johns Hopkins University research report probable vitiligo causes such as skin trauma, including sunburns, injuries, or rashes, can make the patient more susceptible to the condition. After trauma, the patient may develop white patches in the skin as it heals, usually within three months of the injury. When the patient’s hair turns grey early in life, such as before 35 years of age, he or she may have the condition. Severe stress and illness are also considered risk factors of the disease.
Patients may lose color in the mucous membranes as a result of the condition. For instance, the patient’s normally pink inner mouth turns cream-colored or white when melanocytes decrease. This symptom can cause extreme embarrassment and social avoidance in some patients.
In other patients, the condition causes the eye retina, found at the back of the eyeball, to change color. Although some changes in color are minor, some patients lose all retinal color. Goodman Dermatology and providers may recommend an optical exam for any patient with suspected retinal changes.
To learn more about vitiligo treatment or schedule your initial consultation, contact us today. We are proud to offer this and other medical dermatology services to people in North Atlanta and the surrounding cities of Georgia.