How did your vitiligo start?

Vitiligo is caused by the lack of a pigment called melanin in the skin. Melanin is produced by skin cells called melanocytes, and it gives your skin its colour. In vitiligo, there are not enough working melanocytes to produce enough melanin in your skin. This causes white patches to develop on your skin or hair.

Where does vitiligo usually start?

Vitiligo typically begins on the hands, forearms, feet, and face but can develop on any part of the body, including the mucous membranes (moist lining of the mouth, nose, genital, and rectal areas), the eyes, and inner ears.

Can you suddenly develop vitiligo?

People can develop vitiligo at any age, but approximately one-half of cases are diagnosed either in childhood or before someone turns 20. The first signs of vitiligo are white patches on the skin, which can develop anywhere on the body, including on the face, arms, hands, genitals, and buttocks.

Can vitiligo be cured at early stage?

Drugs that control inflammation. Applying a corticosteroid cream to affected skin might return color. This is most effective when vitiligo is still in its early stages. This type of cream is effective and easy to use, but you might not see changes in your skin's color for several months.

What triggers vitiligo to spread?

The most common cause of Vitiligo spread is considered excessive consumption of Vitamin C through food or juice. Vitamin C accelerates the spread of discolored/ white patches. Sour food like Amla, curd, yeasted or fermented food has a high proportion of Vitamin C.

Vitiligo, Causes, Signs and Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment.

Can Covid cause vitiligo?

Background. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) disease and vaccines have been associated to various skin reactions, which are mostly similar amongst them. New onset of vitiligo and hypopigmentations have been described following COVID-19 vaccination, but never after COVID-19 infection.

What can be mistaken for vitiligo?

Sometimes, vitiligo is mistaken for albinism, a group of inherited skin disorders that result in little or no pigment in a person's skin, eyes, and hair.

What is the first stage of vitiligo?

The signs of vitiligo can appear at any stage of life, and include: Loss of skin color in patches, usually seen first on your face, hands, arms, legs, and feet. Premature whitening of your body hair, including facial hair, eyelashes, and eyebrows. Loss of color of the tissues inside your nose.

Has anyone recovered from vitiligo?

About half, 44%, see results disappear within 1 year of stopping treatment. After 4 years, about 86% lose some color restored by treatment. May cause patients with darkly pigmented skin to see areas of darker skin after treatment, but treated skin usually matches untreated skin within a few months.

Are all white patches vitiligo?

Hypopigmented spots that are NOT vitiligo. If the spots are not truly white, but hypopigmented and not depigmented (they don't enhance by Wood's lamp), then they are NOT vitiligo and could be any number of different diseases and conditions. I'll list a few of the most common ones here.

Can vitiligo be caused by stress?

Likewise, both emotional and physical stress can trigger vitiligo. It is a complex skin condition that involves both faulty genes and environmental factors. Melanocytes are more likely exposed to harmful chemicals induced amid emotional stress.

Is sunlight good for vitiligo?

Protection from the sun

You must protect your skin from the sun and do not use sunbeds. When skin is exposed to sunlight, it produces a pigment called melanin to help protect it from ultraviolet (UV) light. However, if you have vitiligo there is not enough melanin in your skin, so it is not protected.

How fast does vitiligo spread?

It spreads very quickly, faster than the other forms, but only for about 6 months (sometimes up to a year). It's such a rapid pace that patients assume it will soon cover their entire body, but it stops abruptly and usually remains stable, without changing, forever after that.

Can vitiligo disappear by itself?

In 1 out of every 5 to 10 people, some or all of the pigment eventually returns on its own and the white patches disappear. For most people, however, the whitened skin patches last and grow larger if vitiligo is not treated. Vitiligo is a lifelong condition.

How can I test for vitiligo at home?

There are no at-home tests available to diagnose vitiligo. However, you can do a general self-check of your skin and look for patchy or widespread loss of pigmentation (the coloring of your skin, hair, and eyes).

How can I prevent vitiligo naturally?

How can I increase melanin in vitiligo?

Turmeric is an effective home remedy for vitiligo. Turmeric along with mustard oil and stimulate the pigmentation of the skin. Apply a mixture of turmeric powder and mustard oil for 20 minutes to the affected area. Do this twice a day for positive results.

Can someone with vitiligo get the Covid vaccine?

Some wonder if the overactive nature of the immune response due to vitiligo will cause additional side effects to the vaccine, but it is unlikely because it's not the entire immune system that is hyperactive, just a small portion responsible for killing the pigment cells.

Does vitiligo affect fertility?

The authors found that patients with vitiligo exhibited a significantly lower live birth rate (odds ratio, 0.870) and a higher incidence of spontaneous abortion (odds ratio, 1.250) than the control group.

Can vitiligo appear at any age?

However, for many people with vitiligo, the white patches begin to appear before age 20, and can start in early childhood. Vitiligo seems to be more common in people who have a family history of the disorder or who have certain autoimmune diseases, including: Addison's disease.

Can vitiligo be dormant?

Vitiligo does not affect everyone the same. It's not uncommon to have a rapid loss of color in patches, and then the disease goes dormant for a period of time.

How can I increase melanin in my body?

You get vitamin A from the food you eat, especially vegetables that contain beta carotene, such as carrots, sweet potatoes, spinach, and peas. Since vitamin A also functions as an antioxidant, some researchers believe this vitamin, more than any other, may be the key to melanin production.

Can blood test detect vitiligo?

Diagnostic Tools

Our dermatologists often diagnose vitiligo based solely on a physical examination. If doctors need more information about how the condition affects your skin cells, they may suggest a skin biopsy or blood test.

Are vitiligo patches itchy?

Vitiligo is usually considered as an asymptomatic dermatosis. However, itch was occasionally mentioned in some vitiligo patients. According to a study by Levai, vitiligo affected patients, with or without the presence of irritated skin lesions, can suffer from itch prior to the appearance of depigmented patches [8].

How can you tell if you have vitiligo or fungus?

Tinea versicolor caused by a fungal infection that results in small, discolored patches of skin. Vitiligo is an autoimmune skin disease that progressively destroys the skin's pigment-producing cells and results in areas of white skin devoid of melanin pigment.