What is Vitiligo?
Vitiligo is a
skin condition where de-pigmentation of skin takes place. In this skin disease
person will encounter white patches in some sections of body, mostly in
symmetry. These white patches are result of deficiency of skin cells called
melanin. Melanin cells help our skin to be in colour and decrease effects of UV
rays. Absenteeism of these melanin cells make it very difficult for other cells
to cover up deficiency, causing Vitiligo as major skin problem. Vitiligo can
occur in patches form and later spread to whole body, while in other cases
limits itself to small area.
Symptoms and Causes of Vitiligo
The area of
symptoms and causes of Vitiligo are yet to be explored in detail but common
causes of Vitiligo according to research are following:
·
Overactive immune system
·
Stress
·
Genetic imbalance
·
Harm to skin due to sun burn
·
Viral factors
·
Neural effect
Symptoms are not
yet confirmed for Vitiligo, but mostly reported symptoms are headache,
dizziness and pain. Though they are still not verified, but one main symptom is
obvious that is discolouration of skin.
Patches or spots can start to appear as little colour difference and
then start to highlight and finally ends up with whitening the skin. It is
mostly observed in tan or dark coloured people. Vitiligo is likely to cause
hair fall or rash.
Famous Treatments for It
There are many
possible and available treatments for Vitiligo, some involve taking oral
medicines through homeopathic or herbal way others involve UVB and UVA rays
therapy. Many people with Vitiligo also go for cosmetic surgery, skin grafting
and de-pigmentation of skin.
In UVA and UVB
rays therapy, patient is exposed to light rays be it ultra violet or infrared
lights. One can perform these treatments at home or nearest small clinic. It
doesn’t need much expertise; twice in a week treatment tends to help a lot in
recovering from Vitiligo condition.
In case patient
prefers herbal or homeopathic treatment for vitiligo, it is prolonged process
and can take up to 3 years to recover completely. These natural cure treatments
let the process of de-pigmentation of skin slow down.
People who go
for cosmetic surgery and skin crafting are also suffering from depression. To
overcome their complex, people opt for cosmetic surgery to hide the discoloured
patches. Skin crafting neither stops skin disease nor it slow down the process
it only let it hide for some time.
UVB Treatment
for Vitiligo
All treatments
for Vitiligo are unpredictable and undependable but UVB treatment has positive
results on all patients. UVB is treatment done through exposing affected skin
in front of UVB light lamps; it can be done easily at home with a smaller lamp,
although if bigger portion is affected then going to hospital is preferred.
However, there is not full evident way of re-pigmenting the skin but UVB helps
in an encouraging way to re-colour skin. UVB phototherapy is gaining fame now
days and many medical institutions have started to pay special attention to
this process for Vitiligo.
Skin diseases
like Vitiligo are non-transferable and are not extremely harmful. Any treatment
introduced for it is not 100% reliable cure but UVB treatment is worth trying
and might help positively with slowing down of de-pigmentation process.
