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Posts Tagged ‘Vitiligo’

Is vitiligo may be a sign of serious illness?

Malignant melanoma (a serious type of skin cancer) and vitiligo may develop simultaneously. However, most patients with vitiligo are not affected by this cancer.

Patients affected by vitiligo have a predisposition to develop any related diseases such as autoimmune Addison’s disease, thyroid problems, diabetes and alopecia areata (loss of scalp hair in patches). Many of these ailments can be diagnosed by blood tests or a simple physical examination.

What is the treatment to be followed?

Patients must use effective sunscreen to avoid burns in the affected areas of skin. There are several treatments the aim is to hide or camouflage the discoloration, or prevent progress. None of these are foolproof and all have their limitations. Read the rest of this entry »

What are the symptoms?

Vitiligo occurs with equal frequency in men and women. It can occur at any age, but 50% of patients are under 20 years old when the first symptoms of the disease. These symptoms involve both physical appearance and the psychological impact caused by the patient.

Physical appearance

During childhood, vitiligo often manifests as a halo of depigmentation of the skin around the moon. Therefore, there is a mole (which most likely disappear over time) surrounded by white skin different from normal skin.

The first signs of discoloration observed in skin areas exposed to light, such as face (mainly mouth, eyes, etc..) And hands. Read the rest of this entry »

What is vitiligo?

It is the most important cause of depigmentation (loss of color) of the skin. It affects all races but is most common in people with darker skin. Approximately one person in every hundred have the disease, and 40% of patients have an affected relative.

What causes vitiligo?

Normal skin contains melanin, a brown pigment produced by the tyrosine skin pigment cells (melanocytes). If you look under a microscope the skin affected by vitiligo, we can see that there is an absence of melanocytes and that the deepest layer of the skin shows signs of inflammation. Read the rest of this entry »