What causes vitiligo?

What causes vitiligo?

Vitiligo is a skin disease that appears as white patches which can affect any part of the human body. The skin colour is distorted when one has vitiligo because the cells responsible are destroyed, thus affecting skin colour pigmentation. Melanin is responsible for human body skin colour, and when the cells are killed in an area in the human body, it turns white or loses colour.

The lose of colour, or lack of melanin can affect any part of the body such as;

The nostril

The forehead

The genital area

Hands, face, arms or feet because they are likely exposed to sunlight

Inside the mouth and ears

When it affects your head, then the hair may change the colour to white or grey. The best thing about vitiligo is that it not contagious and therefore, a person with this condition cannot affect the other people they come in contact.

How can one identify symptoms of vitiligo?

The initial symptom of vitiligo is the appearance of white patches on our body skin which can be anywhere. These patches are not uniform, which makes the size and area variable across people suffering from this condition. The white patches can be small or big, and they usually appear in patterns like;

Segmented

In this pattern, the white patches appear in small proportions, and they appear in one or very few areas in the body. Another feature of focal vitiligo is that it tends to stay in one mainly are and also on one side of the body. The segmented vitiligo is not severe, and it spread slower than the generalized vitiligo as we are going to see below.

Non-segmented

This is the most common type of vitiligo, and it symmetrically affects all sides and areas of the body. It can stop for some time and then resume, and one cannot ascertain when it will start to develop. It spreads faster than the focal pattern, and it is bigger.

However, many people with vitiligo tend to be affected more on the face and their hands, but it can also appear in the skin around and under your arm and groin.

What acts as a catalyst for vitiligo risk?

Vitiligo has no known or proven correlation with genetic makeup. However, a family history of skin disorder can be one of the potential risks of developing vitiligo, though it is not proven.

Vitiligo has autoimmune features which makes it a condition where the body is attacking its cells. The correlation is through a study that shows that people with vitiligo also have other autoimmune characteristics/disorder. These particular autoimmune disorders include;

Psoriasis

Addison’s disease

Lupus

Diabetes (type 1)

Scleroderma

Geaktg experts also believe that exposure top some incidents can trigger risks to vitiligo. Such as;

Long exposure to sunlight

Exposure of the skin to chemicals and toxins

Stress

What happens to you when you get vitiligo?

The positive factor about vitiligo is that there are no known or experienced physical effects when it comes to the body. However, in extreme cases, it might affect the eyes or the inner ear, but this is chances are lower. The most apparent adverse effects of vitiligo are the loss of melanin which is responsible for protecting the skin from sunburn. Similarly, with albinism, people suffering from vitiligo can apply sunscreen to prevent sunburn when they are out of the house.

What are other non-physical effects of vitiligo?

Emotional and mental effects

The people suffering from vitiligo tend to suffer from mental and emotional disorders due to stress and low self-esteem issues. The teenagers are the most affected by this condition because they tend to isolate from their peers to avoid bullying or ridicule. Society needs to understand that vitiligo is non-contagious, and it has no negative physical effects. This goes to show that people suffering from vitiligo can go along to live a happy and healthy life.

Both health experts and parents should be able to understand the impact of vitiligo in their young people lives, which can help in preventing low self-esteem and depression.

Psychological problems

Vitiligo is a condition that plays a significant part in the day to day life of people living with the disease. This causes psychological effects with many people reporting that it impacts on how they think and relate with other people in society and stress due to its unpredictable nature. The people living with vitiligo said other issues such as;

Emotional instability

Social isolation

Depression

Acute anxiety

Withdrawal from public events

How can we help people with vitiligo cope better?

The first thing is to consider counselling from a professional and dermatologists.

What are the possible surgical solutions?

Micropigmentation

One of the possible solutions is for a dermatologist is to tattoo pigment in the affected area, but this might prove difficult in terms of matching with your skin colour.

Melanocyte transplants

Transplanting melanocytes requires the doctor to remove and placing them in the lab to facilitate its growth. After this, the cells are then transplanted in the area lacking pigment.

Skin grafting

This is the most common surgical treatment of vitiligo, where the doctor removes the pigmented skin and then transfers them to the area affected by vitiligo. This can be safely done by creating blisters and then transferring it to the affected area, which offers a less risky outcome.

What are other solutions in dealing with vitiligo?

Mental health counselling: People suffering from vitiligo can benefit positive mental health where psychotherapy and, medication can improve their confidence.

Cosmetics: Self-tanning lotions and cream s can help people with vitiligo deal with the condition by improving their confidence through an even skin tone.

Sunscreen: People with vitiligo skin condition are advised to avoid exposure to sunlight. Sunscreen can be a recommended way of protecting part of the body where without pigmentation.