If you saw Cycle 21 of the reality series America’s Next Top Model, then you would know Winnie Harlow (aka Chantelle Brown-Young) who was one of the contestants, and suffers from Vitiligo. Michael Jackson was also reputed to have been a sufferer of the skin condition.
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But what is Vitiligo? And what are the details about it?
What Is Vitiligo?
Vitiligo is a loss of skin colour that causes white spots or patches to appear on the skin. No one knows exactly why this happens, but it affects people of all races. The extent and rate of colour loss from vitiligo is unpredictable. It can affect the skin on any part of your body. It may also affect hair, the inside of the mouth and even the eyes.
Treatment for vitiligo may improve the appearance of the affected skin but does not cure the disease. Though, vitiligo affects a person’s appearance, it isn’t medically dangerous. It is not a form of skin cancer, and it’s definitely not contagious, so you can’t catch it from someone else. In fact, most of the people who have vitiligo are every bit as healthy as everyone else.
How Does it Happen?
First, an explanation of how skin gets its colour is in order. Skin colour is determined by cells called melanocytes. They produce a pigment called melanin, which gives skin its colour, and helps protect it from the sun.
Skin colour is determined not by how many melanocytes someone has (we are all born with a similar amount), but rather by how active the cells are. Dark-skinned people have cells that naturally produce a lot of melanin, while light-skinned people produce much less.
Sometimes, the skin suddenly stops producing melanin. This may be as a result of the melanocytes dying off or when they stop functioning.
Symptoms of Vitiligo
White patches on the skin are the main signs of vitiligo. These patches are more common in areas where the skin is exposed to the sun.
Vitiligo can happen anywhere on the body, but it’s more likely to develop in these areas:
- Skin that’s exposed to the sun, such as the face, neck, legs and hands
- Skin that has folds, such as the elbows, knees, armpits, and groin
- Skin around the eyes, nostrils, navels, and genital areas
- Premature whitening or graying of the hair on your scalp, eyelashes, eyebrows or beard (usually before age 35)
- Loss of color in the tissues that line the inside of your mouth and nose (mucous membranes)
- Loss of or change in color of the inner layer of the eyeball (retina)
- Discolored patches around the armpits, navel, genitals and rectum
Possible Causes
Experts don’t know exactly what causes vitiligo, but some think it’s an autoimmune disorder (that the immune system is mistakenly attacking healthy melanocytes). Others think it’s genetic, and that the risk of developing vitiligo increases in people with a family history of thyroid disease, diabetes, and certain conditions like alopecia (an autoimmune disease that causes hair loss).
Some also believe it could be triggered by such things as sunburn, stress or exposure to industrial chemicals. Vitiligo can start at any age, but most often appears before the age of 20.
Diagnosing Vitiligo
A dermatologist can usually tell if someone has vitiligo just by looking for the telltale white patches. On people with fair skin, a special tool called a Woods lamp might be used. This lamp uses ultraviolet light in a dark room to illuminate areas of damaged skin that would otherwise be hard to see with the naked eye.
The doctor also may do a blood test to check for thyroid problems and diabetes, since they can increase the risk of vitiligo. Very occasionally a doctor may perform a biopsy — removing a small piece of the affected area to check whether there are pigment cells in the skin. If the biopsy shows there are no pigment cells, the doctor can confirm a case of vitiligo.
Treatment
There is no “cure” for vitiligo. Sometimes patches go away on their own. But when that doesn’t happen, doctors can prescribe treatments that might help even out skin tone. These may be creams, oral pills, or a combination of medicine and Ultraviolet A (UVA) light.
At other times, surgical treatments that involves using skin grafts from a person’s own tissues are employed. The doctor takes skin from one area of a patient’s body and attaches it to another area. This is sometimes used for people with small patches of vitiligo.
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