Vitiligo

What is vitiligo?

Vitiligo is a disease that causes areas of skin to lose colour, resulting in spots and patches of lighter skin. Some people develop a few spots. Others have a more widespread colour loss.

What types of vitiligo are there?

Vitiligo usually begins with a few small, lighter patches on the skin. These patches may stay the same size for years or grow more prominent. New patches can also appear on the skin. The new patches may be close to existing patches or far from them.

• Localised vitiligo - When you develop a few spots or patches that appear in one or a few places on your body.
• Generalised vitiligo - When vitiligo causes scattered patches of colour loss on different body areas.
• Universal vitiligo - When people lose most of their skin colour. This is considered very rare.
• Non-segmental vitiligo - tends to spread slowly, with new patches developing throughout a person’s life.
• Segmental vitiligo - People with this type tend to see a rapid colour loss on one side of the body. After 6 to 12 months, segmental vitiligo tends to stabilise, meaning that the colour loss stops. Once it stops, most people with segmental vitiligo don’t develop new patches or spots.
• Mixed type vitiligo - a rare type of vitiligo. People with this type develop both segmental vitiligo and colour loss beyond the area with segmental vitiligo.

How can vitiligo be treated?

There are several treatment options; however, often, no treatment may be required other than good sun protection, especially in pale-skinned individuals.

Using sunscreen helps to protect skin affected by vitiligo and reduces the contrast between the areas with vitiligo and the surrounding normal skin.

The application of potent topical creams or ointments to areas of vitiligo may restore some pigment, but side effects, such as thinning of the skin and stretch marks, can occur with continued use.