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Virtiligo

 

Virtiligo is a special skin disease that is next to leukoderma. One of the major characteristic of this skin disease is depigmentation. According to a medical study at least one in a hundred people will face this kind of skin disorder. It can affect people around the world no matter their sex and race. In some other cases, people develop Virtiligo after crossing 25 years of age.

There are also cases where younger individuals also suffer from this ailment. According to some studies, people who have darker complexion are more exposed to this skin disorder. The skin disease is also connected to a dangerous inflammatory and autoimmune disease. The disease is also associated with other illnesses such as thyroid overexpression and under expression.

Causes:

Hereditary is one of the main reasons why some people suffer from this kind of disease. About 30% of people suffering from this disease acquire it from one of the member of their family. Almost 75% of sufferers got it from the hereditary characteristic transferred by their parents to them. The skin of patients with this condition has some patches. If you do not have it at birth, some doctor says that stress is also one of the major contributors of Virtiligo. Other common causes of this skin disease are immune hypothesis, self-destruction hypothesis, neural hypothesis, and genetic hypothesis.

Symptoms:

The most common physical symptoms of this skin disease are patches. This is due to the over depigmentation of the skin. In some cases, you will notice gray scalp, eyelashes, and eyebrows from sick patients. You may also witness some change of color within the retina. Retina is an inner layer of the eye. The mucous membrane may also change in color, but this symptom is not visible because it occurs within the body.

Treatments:

There is no age limit and all people around the world can suffer from this skin condition. There are wide array of treatment you can use if you are suffering from this condition, but there are also side effects in relation to these treatments. Treatment is needed because people suffering from this illness are losing their self-esteem because of skin depigmentation. Remember, there is no perfect solution to any kind of problem. Here are some treatment options:

  • Surgery- most modern treatment nowadays for Virtiligo suggests surgery or skin transplant as a good option, but this might cause a permanent scar. Every surgery will surely bring risk of scar even if it is not a skin surgery. There are lots of modern equipments used in this kind of surgery, but because of lack of knowledge and experience, some doctors cause patients to suffer from deep scar. In this case, it is important for you to consult a professional skin doctor to avoid this kind of side effect.
  • Medicines- there are wide array of medicine manufactured for this condition. People who are in medication experience difficulty in swallowing the medicine because most of medicines made for this condition have bitter taste. Most patients cannot stand the taste and end up not taking their medication.
  • Temporary treatment- all of these treatments can only offer temporary solution to the problem. Surely, the skin depigmentation will strike again on the skin. There are lotions and cream which can help, but they will also lose their effectiveness if you will not continue applying them.
  • Expensive treatment- most treatment for Virtiligo is very expensive. Not all people can bear this kind of expense forever.

Natural Treatment

One of the first things you can do to hide the depigmentation on your skin is to apply makeup. Here are the following holistic approaches you can use to fight the causes of this skin disease.

  • Folic acid and vitamin B12- if you will go for nutritional approach to treat the condition, it is important to both take up nutrient as well as sun exposure. A Swedish scientist found out that taking supplement such as folic acid and vitamin B12 just before a sunbed treatment can effectively enhance a healthy tanning effect on depigmented skin. Even if patients do not take any drug medication just take these two important vitamins and a tanning bed, it can definitely improve patient’s condition for about 50%. This treatment is actually cheap compare to other treatment.
  • Amino acid L-phenylalanine- this is another nutritional approach. The pigment on the skin is brought about by melanocytes build up L-phenylalanine which is very hard to break down. It also needs more L-phenylalanine to main the body’s ability to take extra energy coming from glucose within the citric acid cycle.

Virtiligo is a condition which has no direct treatment. It means you will suffer from this condition forever. It is important for patients to learn how to deal with this condition. Some counseling can definitely help patients to better their conditions.