by Kathy Stemke

Created on: October 07, 2008

Imagine that you are a talented super star with more money than you could ever spend. Suddenly, you notice chalky white skin patches slowly spreading on your young creamy dark skin. You wonder, "How could this happen to me?" That's exactly what happened to Michael Jackson, when he learned that he had developed vitiligo skin disorder just like his uncles on his father's side of the family. Like the two million other sufferers here in the USA, he first had to get an accurate diagnosis and learn all he could about vitiligo.

HOW DOES VITILIGO DEVELOP?

Scientists are still searching for what causes the progressive killing of certain melanocytes (cells responsible for the color of skin) in some individuals. Vitiligo is believed to be a result of both inherited genes and an environment that causes a certain risk for this disease. Studies found that 20% of the families of vitiligo patients also develop vitiligo. People inherited a "special gene," which makes you susceptible to this life changing disease. Severe skin injuries, or extreme sunburn, appear to influence whether or not an individual with those "special genes" will develop vitiligo during their lifetimes. Scientists believe that stress can also be a factor, which influences the likelihood that certain individuals will develop this disease. Vitiligo can start anywhere on the body, and it is a progressive disease. An interesting fact is that the blotches usuall form in symetrical patterns with a line of symmetry. (remember your math class)

WHERE TO GO FOR A DIAGNOSIS

Dermatologists can usually make a diagnosis by an examination of the symmetrically patterned patches, but often do biopsies and blood tests to rule out other conditions. They then will start you on a treatment or a series of treatments to slow the spread of the disease.

VITILIGO TREATMENT

There is no vitiligo cure. There are, however, some effective treatments on the market to help stop the spread of depigmentation. Surprisingly, there are some treatments that can even trigger repigmentation. Some people use cosmetics to cover up the blotches, but some additional treatments include:

Corticosteroids, psoralen, methoxsalen topical repigmentation ointment
PUVA therapy (photo chemotherapy)
Oral medicine (trimethylpsoralen)
Skin grafting and tattooing
Immune suppressants (pimecrolimus, tacrolimus)
UVB band therapy (ultraviolet light)
Skin bleaching

DIET/NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS

When tested in a recent study, Folic acid, vitamin B12 and vitamin C were extremely low

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