What is vitiligo?
Vitiligo causes your skin to lose its pigmentation (color). It affects patches of skin. These patches of discoloration gradually grow larger. Pigment loss can appear on any part of your body, including hair, eyes, and inside the mouth.
Though vitiligo isn’t contagious or life-threatening, the dramatic change in appearance can affect your quality of life. The Aesthetic and Clinical Dermatology Associates team offers a wide range of vitiligo treatments that can help restore lost skin color. However, vitiligo has no cure, and treatment won’t prevent ongoing loss of skin color.
What are the symptoms of vitiligo?
Symptoms of vitiligo include patches of skin color loss, which often first appear on the face, hands, and genitals. White or gray patches of hair can appear on your scalp, eyebrows, eyelashes, or beard. You can also experience loss of color in the membranes that line your nose and mouth.
Depending on the specific type of vitiligo you have, the patches could appear on only one, a few, or many areas of your body. Rarely, vitiligo causes discoloration on nearly all skin surfaces.
What causes vitiligo?
Vitiligo happens when melanin-producing cells die or stop functioning. Melanin determines your natural skin and hair pigment.
It’s unclear exactly why these cells die or fail to function correctly. The cause could be related to an autoimmune disease, family history, or a trigger event like stress, severe sunburn, or skin trauma. Research is ongoing.
How is vitiligo diagnosed and treated?
The expert team at Aesthetic and Clinical Dermatology Associates can diagnose vitiligo by reviewing your medical history and examining your skin. They might also take a skin biopsy and order blood tests.
They then develop a personalized treatment plan tailored to your specific concerns. Depending on the type, location, and severity of your vitiligo, treatment can include:
- Oral, topical, or injected medications to control inflammation
- Light therapy (phototherapy)
- Combining a plant-derived substance called psoralen and UVA light therapy (PUVA)
- Depigmentation to remove the remaining color from unaffected skin
- Herbal or nutritional supplements
- Concealing the affected skin with makeup or self-tanner
If medications and light therapy aren’t effective, you could need surgery, such as a skin graft.
For patient-centered care of vitiligo, call Aesthetic and Clinical Dermatology Associates today or request an appointment online.
