Vitiligo

Vitiligo is a skin disease that we know very little about and have no guaranteed cure for. Most treatments are experimental or intended to control and restrict the effects of the disease. Although narrowband UVB treatments are extremely promising and are the best treatment currently available to vitiligo patients, herbal treatments do offer some hope. Sadly the efficacy of these herbal remedies has been neglected and research conducted has been inadequate.

 

The concept behind the most successful conventional treatment (UVB treatment) is actually rooted in traditional herbal treatments that involve phototherapy. Psoralea corylifolia is an herb that is extremely useful because of its peculiar properties. It contains a naturally occurring compound called psoralen that can today also be produced in laboratories. In the past however, treatment with this herb was widely used against vitiligo as this compound facilitates and improves the reaction of the skin to sun exposure. This herb may be used as a topical application in its oil extract form or a powdered form can be used for ingestion.

 

The use of Picrorhiza in combination with certain conventional treatments and sun exposure has also been found to speed up recovery, as opposed to treatment with just sun exposure and medication. Similarly supplementation with a Ginkgo biloba extract has also been found to encourage repigmentation. Khella or Ammi visnaga is another herb, which could have a role to play in vitiligo treatment. An active constituent of this herb called ‘khellin’ works in a manner very similar to psoralen, demonstrating a stimulatory effect on re-pigmentation.

Pigmentation means the process of skin which is responsible for the coloration of skin.  It is also related to the mechanism of skin regarding absorption of heat coming from sunlight. It protect our body from hazardous rays of uvb light which interact with our body. UVB light  is a big source of skin cancer.

Skin color is the one of the most important factor by which you guesses overall health condition of a person. There is direct effect on the skin or the pigmentation of skin due to any unwanted change or weakness in one's body system. Some time the lack of some nutrients like vitamins and mineral causes some problems in the pigmentation process of skin. And some time anomalies in the internal system (auto-immune system of body) may results the some unwanted spots in the skin. There are many skin pigmentation problems but here we shall discuss some main thing regarding the skin appearance. Before continuing further first we have to explore the term melanin.

Melanocytes

Melanocytes are special skin cell which are responsible for pigmentation process of skin.
 
Melanin

A natural substance produced by pigmentation producing cells melanocytes which is responsible for natural skin and hair color.
It is the melanin which deficiency or excess in skin causes different types of skin problem. Albinism and vitiligo occurs due to the deficiency of melanin in skin.
Abnormalities in the function in the production of melanin by melanocytes  cause different pigmentation problems in skin.
Melanin has a special quality to absorb UV (ultra violet) radiation from sun.

Hyper Pigmentation

It occurs when the production of melanin substance increase  from normal level. Normally dark spots or blotches on skin occurs due to the hype-pigmentation.
You may often observe that after tannin or long being long exposure to sun your skin complexion become more darken. This happens due to the excessive of melanin.
Liver spots is the most common hyper-pigmentation disorder. It occurs due to the pro long exposure to the sun.

Depigmentation

It is also called hypo-pigmentation. When some light spots appear in skin as compare to its surrounding, normally white patches in skin appear due the depigmentation in skin. It occurs when the amount of melanin decrease from a certain level in a particular part of the body.
Most common depigmentation problem of the skin is vitiligo.  About 50 million people on the globe ar suffering from this skin condition.  Vitiligo occurs due to the destruction of the pigment producing cells of skin and lack of melanin.
Some hyper-pigmentation techniques are also used for treatment of vitiligo.
You can visit for further info about other depigmentation conditions.


Ultra Violet Radiation

Here is need to mention some thing about ultra violet radiation because most of the pigmentation problems, specially hyper-pigmentation occur due to the  uv light.
Special pigment material melanin has a quality to absorb uvb radiation. Though UV light therapy is also used for the treatment of many disease. Rapid increase in using sunscreens in last few year is also has been observed is also due to the uv rays.

Some Useful tips to save your skin

Drink more water.
Take care white going out, specially extreme sun hours.
Use Sunscreen but made of safe substance instead of toxic chemical materials.

 

source: http://www.vitiligoguide.com/white-spots-on-skin/

Vitiligo is a common anomaly of your immune system that result in white spots on your body And there are currently no known permanent means to halt this process. When we say treating vitiligo, it means eliminating the white spots weather root cause is addressed or not.The following are the possible treatment options for vitiligo skin disorder. 

Types of  Vitiligo
Vitiligo can be categorized into following

1. Localized Vitiligo: Focal pattern vitiligo, Segmental pattern vitiligo 2.Generalized Vitiligo: Acrofacial vitiligo, Vulgaris Vitiligo, Universal  vitiligo 

Localized Vitiligo

Focal Vitiligo

One or more macules in one area but not clearly in a segmental distribution.In general terms Focal Vitiligo is localized to a single area. If the patient has a single patch on hand, face or leg with no other occurrences of disease on other body parts.Focal vitiligo if not active is generally more suited for localized treatments. The first option would be a topical medicine and if it does not work or is unacceptable due to other reasons, surgery and tattooing may be considered. 

Segmental Vitiligo

Where one or more macules are in a quasi-dermatomal pattern. In common mans language Here the patches are unilateral and asymmetric in distribution.One or more patches are distributed within the same segment (anatomical distribution of the body) of the body. Segmental vitiligo limited to lips and finger tips is often called Lip-Tip Vitiligo. This is perhaps most difficult to treat. Lip-tip Vitiligo: These are restricted to the lips and distal part of fingers and toes. Affecting distal extremities and face. Some patches on face and some on other body parts, but not on all over the body. In common terms, Acrofacial vitiligo is the term used for a very common distribution of this disease in which the disease is limited to parts away from the center of the body. This usually include face, head, hands and feet. It is usually associate with a lot emotional distress because the disease effects the exposed parts of the body, which is socialy very emparcing.  

Generalized Vitiligo 

Acrofacial Vitiligo

Affecting distal extremities and face. Some patches on face and some on other body parts, but not on all over the body.  In common terms, Acrofacial vitiligo is the term used for a very common distribution of this disease in which the disease is limited to parts away from the center of the body. This usually include face, head, hands and feet. It is usually associate with a lot emotional distress because the disease effects the exposed parts of the body, which is socialy very emparcing.  

Vitiligo Vulgaris

In vitiligo valgaris small patches of de-pigmentation are spread in a shower pattern admixed with normal skin in segmental or acrofacial pattern.This is the most common type with bilaterally symmetrical lesions, predominantly distributed over face, neck, torso, fingers, toes, palms, soles and facial orifices. Due to wide spread of disease it is generally difficult to treat all the parts equally and the treatment may take years. Also surgery may not be an option for patients of vitiligo vulgaris. 

Universal Vitiligo

Universal Vitiligo or Vitiligo totalis is the complete or nearly complete loss of skin pigment. The pigment is usually lost from entire body surface except a few small islands of normally pigmented skin. Permanent medical bleaching of the normal skin is usually the only option.  

I am very thankfull to Anti-vitiligo for providing such a useful info which place for our million of population suffering from vitiligo as well as for the researchers.

 

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