Vitiligo Day

Ludhiana, June 25, 2014: Vitiligo is a medical condition that causes the skin to lose colour. It is also known as leukoderma or phulvari. Some people develop a few spots that lighten or turn completely white. For others, it can be widespread.

Vitiligo affects both genders and is more noticeable in people with darker skin. Close relatives of a person with vitiligo have a greater risk of developing it.

Vitiligo develops when the pigment cells of the skin die or are destroyed by the body’s immune system. Stress is a trigger for development of the disease.

There are many types of vitiligo depending on the area of involvement, distribution of lesions and shades of colour within the lesions.

Treatment options include light therapy and medications, apart from camouflage creams. The goal of therapy is to create a uniform skin tone. The type of treatment depends on the type of vitiligo, severity, location as well as the patient’s preference.

Narrow Band Ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) is a photo (light) therapy found to be more effective and safer than PUVA therapy, which utilizes a medication called psoralen in combination with Ultraviolet A light.

Targeted phototherapy involves utilizing NB-UVB over only the areas affected by the disease, hence enabling a higher dose delivery to the target areas while decreasing the side effects including tanning on the normal areas. This new, safe and effective method of treatment of vitiligo is used once or twice a week in combination with creams and is available in CMC City Center, Ghumar Mandi.

Surgical options involve transferring the normal skin to vitiligo patches and also have good results for stable disease.