World Vitiligo Day

World vitiligo day was established to break the stereotypes that are imposed on shades of skin tone and disfigurement. Vitiligo is a disease that needs to be brought to the view as a severe public health issue. There are a lot of false fears among the people that this disease can get transmitted if they move in contact with the affected individuals. Due to this reason, the people suffering from vitiligo are subjected to social detachment as a result of passing insensitive expressions toward them. In this world vitiligo day 2022, read this article and gain a comprehensive view on vitiligo.

Understanding Vitiligo

Vitiligo can be a chronic life-lasting medical condition that affects your skin. This is a skin disease that causes the development of patches due to the deficient levels of melanin, a pigment present in the skin that gives natural color to the skin, hair, and eyes. Vitiligo can occur anywhere on the skin, yet the common sites are the face, hands, and necks. However, vitiligo can happen at any age; the symptoms, such as white patches, become visible below the age of 20.

Types Of Vitiligo

• Bilateral Vitiligo, where the symptoms occur over both the sides of the body, causing white patches of equal sizes. This type can also be referred to as non-segmental vitiligo, which is relatively more common than other kinds of vitiligo.
• Unilateral Vitiligo is a type that causes white patches only on one side or one particular site in the body. This is called segmental vitiligo, and the frequency of occurrence is more excellent in children. 

Causes For Vitiligo

Although the cause for vitiligo is not established completely, there have been a few factors that are related to vitiligo.

• Immune system disorder: Vitiligo can develop due to autoimmunity, where the body’s immune system affects the melanin pigments. It can also occur in people with other autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, diabetes, and thyroid dysfunctions.
• Toxins: A few noxious harmful, released at the nerve endings, negatively impact melanocytes.
• Genetic disorder: Although vitiligo is not a proper inherited disease, there are chances of getting transmitted to the next generations as its abnormal gene gets passed on. There are about 30% of the chances for vitiligo to become an inherited disease.

How Is Vitiligo Presented? A Life-Altering Disease

The symptoms of vitiligo can be seen in any part of the body. The significant feature of this disease is the appearance of milky white patches in the region of the face, neck, hands, feet, and arms. You will observe discoloration in the hair since melanin is responsible for producing the color of the hair.  Not only the scalp hair, but even the eyebrows, lashes, and beard get discolored to white. In some cases, the mucus membrane of the oral region also gets affected, such as the mouth and nose bridge lining. Above all, the affected individuals develop low self-esteem, and their mental well-being gets impacted terribly as society fails to accept them for what they are.

Treatment For Vitiligo

• Repigmentation therapy - Certain medications help minimize the skin's damaged or pigmented regions, including topical creams and ointments formulated with corticosteroids and immunomodulatory agents like tacrolimus to regulate the immune cells. Sometimes your doctor may even prescribe repigmentation therapy that involves using vitamin d analogs to enhance the original skin pigment by increasing the synthesis of melanin in the skin.
• Surgery - is recommended only for small affected regions. The primary surgical intervention in treating vitiligo is skin grafting, a part of healthy skin transferred to the discolored site.
• Camouflage therapy - treats the contrast between the original skin color and the patches. It is advised to use sunscreens with a sun protection factor of 30 or higher to block the sun's ultraviolet rays A and B emitted by the sun. These rays can worsen the melanin pigment and cause the primary skin shade to tan.
• Light therapy - If you have the patches only on a small region, do try out the light therapy as it can be beneficial to regain your skin color where narrow band ultraviolet rays are produced to treat the affected regions. But an oral dose of psoralen will be combined with the UV treatment for more extensive vitiligo lesions. Studies show that this therapy is effective about 75% in restoring the native skin shades at the prominent regions of the face and extremities. Since people affected with vitiligo tend to get vulnerable to thyroid gland disorder, it is essential to measure your thyroid levels periodically.

Learn To Thrive In Vitiligo

• Incorporate foods rich in folic acid, zinc, and vitamin B12 to protect your skin and prevent worsening of skin pigmentation.
• Discuss with your friends and family your skin condition
• Find your community to share the emotional distress and overcome the critics of skin colorism.
• To prevent further deterioration of skin color, avoid swimming in pools as chlorine can trigger the spread of disease to other unexposed areas.
• Include fruits rich in beta carotene and yellowish-orange fruits such as papaya and melons to replenish your body with melanin.
• Avoid direct exposure to the sun and apply sunscreen lotions or creams
• Ensure adequate hydration and drink water in copper vessels to boost melanin levels.
• Follow some DIY remedies such as applying turmeric or red clay to the affected areas to increase the blood flow and aid in stimulating the repigmentation.