Vitiligo is a skin condition in which the skin loses melanin, the pigment that determines the color of your skin, hair and eyes. Vitiligo occurs when the cells that produce melanin die or no longer form melanin, causing slowly enlarging white patches of irregular shapes to appear on your skin. And the truth is, there is no known cure for this disease. All that can be done is try and control its symptoms, the white patches. It is not a communicable disease.
Any part of the body may be affected by Vitiligo, depigmentation usually develops first on sun exposed areas of the skin, such as hands, feet, arms, face and lips. Genitals also may be affected. It can start to appear at any age, Vitiligo usually first appears between the ages of 10 and 30. Vitiligo generally appears in one of three patterns – Generalized. In this most frequent subtype, pigment loss is extensive across many parts of the body, often evenly.
Segmental loss of skin color happens on only one side of the body. This is more inclined to happen at a younger age, progress for a year or two, and then stop.
Focal depigmentation is limited to one or a few areas of the body.
The areas most commonly affected by vitiligo include:
the skin around your mouth and eyes
fingers and wrists
armpits
groin
genitals
inside your mouth
It can also sometimes develop where there are hair roots, such as on your scalp. The lack of melanin in your skin can turn the hair in the affected area white or grey.
Vitiligo often starts as a pale patch of skin that gradually turns completely white. The centre of a patch may be white, with pale skin around it. If there are blood vessels under the skin, the patch may be slightly pink, rather than white.
The edges of the patch may be smooth or irregular. They're sometimes red and inflamed, or there's brownish discolouration (hyperpigmentation).
Learn about : how to cure vitiligo
