Talk:Vitiligo

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[edit] % of people wit Vitiligo

The article is contradictory. It says "The populattion incidence is thought to be 1-2%" Then it goes on to say "It is a very rare disease/rare condition affecting 1 in 2000 people". The two statements dont add up. Generally, what I have seen is ~1% of the population has it. But I dont know of any reliable data to back that up.

[edit] Is it a disease?

[edit] Yes

Please see the definition of disease in a dictionary:

Dictionary.com - http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/disease disease- a disordered or incorrectly functioning organ, part, structure, or system of the body resulting from the effect of genetic or developmental errors, infection, poisons, nutritional deficiency or imbalance, toxicity, or unfavorable environmental factors; illness; sickness; ailment.

Merriam-Webster - http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disease disease - a condition of the living animal or plant body or of one of its parts that impairs normal functioning and is typically manifested by distinguishing signs and symptoms : SICKNESS, MALADY

Also see,

- http://www.niams.nih.gov/hi/topics/vitiligo/vitiligo.htm
- http://www.aad.org/public/Publications/pamphlets/Vitiligo.htm


Is vitilgo an hereditary disease?

"It is hereditary in one third of those affected" [1]

Vitiligo may also be hereditary, that is, it can run in families. Children whose parents have the disorder are more likely to develop vitiligo. However, most children will not get vitiligo even if a parent has it, and most people with vitiligo do not have a family history of the disorder.[2]

Vitiligo, like Psoriasis, is thought to be hereditary. Even if your immediate parents or grand parents do not have Vitiligo, they may have had another genetic issue that is loosely associated with Vitiligo, such as thyroid problems or diabetes etc.[3]

According to these links it seems it is. Richard Cane 19:05, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I'm a black woman who has lived with vitiligo since age 12 (now over 50) with a sister (8 years younger) who also has vitiligo. In my case, I don't have "significant" gray hair, given that most of my scalp has lost its pigmentation (no gray around temples and neckline; must comb hair to find a single strand here and there at the top of my head; the gray hair is probably due to aging given my age). Passed on by heredity? Dunno, but had once asked my own mother if anyone else in the family has vitiligo besides my sister and me; from what I've been told, an uncle on mother's side had vitiligo. lwalt 07:56, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

I have an identical twin brother and he has never had any sign of vitiligo where as I get spots all over my body. I have contacted the vitaligo society and they are taking further tests. Neither of us have had thyroid or other such problems.

I have vitiligo and am fine with that, like the person under the "no section" but that doesn't make the cause of it any less auto-immune related disorder.

[edit] No

I have vitiligo myself, and I do not consider it a disease but rather a cosmetic issue (in some cultures). Just because some doctors and pharmaceutical companies try to make money off of us does not make our natural skin colouring a problem! Calling our white patches a disease only legitimizes the discriminatory treatment that some people inflict on us. The only problems associated with vitiligo are sensitivity to the sun and social stigma. But no one considers other fair-skinned people, who are also sensitive to the sun, to have a disease; and no one considers dark-skinned people, who often face stigma in racist cultures, to have a disease.

Rosemary Amey 00:11, 8 November 2006 (UTC)


I don't think it matters whether we as sufferers consider it a disease or not - the article states that it is a skin condition, which should be acceptable to both those who want to maximise and minimise its impact. DavidFarmbrough 08:44, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

It says condition now because I went through and changed all the spots calling it a disesase. :) -- Rosemary Amey 23:18, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

There's lots of good information at [4], all of which is PD-USGov, so we could incorporate it into this article. -- ke4roh 19:00, Mar 14, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Lack of sensation

I have vitiligo. I note that in the areas of skin affected by the disease, that I have noticebly less sensation than in other areas. Is this just me or do other people have this? If they do, then it is significant to be included, I think. User:DavidFarmbrough 09:00 (BST) 17/5/'05]]

BramVdb: About the lack of sensation... I have the same impression! Not that it is really a big difference in sensation, but indeed I feel slightly less in the infected areas.

Some other remarks:

1) Also I sometimes (very rarely, like twice a year) have rashes on the infected skin. These rashes seem to leave some new pigments but they dissapear within a week.

2) I am also having other immunity related deseases like mentioned on the website.

3) The hair growing on the white skin also becomes white

4) Every summer the spots become bigger. I don't think it is just a matter of becomming visible because of skincontrast, I think the tanning actually burns healthy skin and triggers new vitiligo by doing so. That would be simular to the way that vitiligo can be triggered by small wounds. In other words, I believe that irritation (by burning for example) of the skin can be a cause of vitiligo. Maybe that also explains why some cosmetic products are said to be a cause of vitiligo. Maybe those products irritate the skin as well.

5) I have seen that several websites talk about a relation between vitamine B12 and vitiligo.

6) I have read 2 contrary things about the risk of cancer! The first source says that vitiligo infected skin does not longer give enoug protection against the sun and therefore can cause skincancer. The second source says that vitiligo patients lose their melanocytes cells. These are the cells that create pigments. Those cells are also the cause of melanoa-skincancer. In other words, vitiligo protects against skin cancer! Recently they have even started curing skin cancer by trying to envoke vitiligo with those patients! (At least one advantage to the annoying white spots)

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.245.121.70 (talk • contribs) 02:31, 20 September 2006
I have a feeling the spreading is coincidence more than anything. I'm in the process of writing a review article on the development of phototherapeutic vitiligo treatments over the past decade, and the evidence for UV radiation initiating repigmentation is overwhelming (though there still seems to be little, short of surgical grafting, which could be considered effective for hands and feet).
First I've heard about vitamin B12, though vitamin D analogues such as calcipotriol have shown some moderate results.
By the way, no one knows for sure what causes vitiligo, so if you hear about skin products or anything else triggering it, take it with a grain of salt. Doesn't mean it's wrong, just means it's speculative at this point. --203.206.183.160 09:08, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

I'm a long time vitiligo sufferer, and I too have noticed that vitiligo definitely spreads every time I am in the sun. 41.241.237.249 06:43, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

I wish this article included a list of famous people who have vitiligo. Besides, Michael Jackson (whom I don't believe) the author of "The Lord Lifted Me Despite the Church" has it.

Also, I know Black and Asian Indians who have vitiligo, but I've never seen other groups have it.

The above was added 22 July 2005 by 143.231.249.141

You won't have noticed it in paler skinned people. DavidFarmbrough 09:51, 25 October 2005 (UTC)
Wasn't there some African-American activist who lost pigmentation in his older age and was harassed by the youths in his neighborhood who took him by a white "intruder"?

Michael Jackson uses -makeup- ?? What's all this talk about bleach then?

[edit] Various

Light-skinned people can certainly have vitiligo. It just may not be very obvious, particularly if those people avoid the sun & always use sun screen.

I suspect that Michael Jackson isn't presently using makeup to even out the effects of vitiligo on his skin tone, but has had his skin depigmented.

Although vitiligo itself maybe harmless, it is associated with other more serious auto-immune diseases people should monitor for (e.g. hypothyroidism, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis).


[edit] Michael Jackson

This comes from the main Michael Jackson article, "During court depositions in 1994, both Jackson's dermatologist Dr. Arnold Klein and his nurse (later his wife, Deborah Rowe) revealed that following a biopsy of his scalp in 1983, Jackson was diagnosed with lupus and vitiligo." So he doesn't "claim" to have vitiligo, he does have it. Just because it's Michael Jackson, and he's the type of person people love to hate, doesn't mean everything he says has to have the word "claimed" infront of it. He has vitiligo, end of story.

Also on the Michael Jackson page it says, "As a result of this disorder, Jackson is said to "even out" his skin tone with bleaching creams. He has also been told by his dermatologist to avoid any exposure to the sun." So he isn't using make-up, he is using cream.

Street walker 11:44, 15 November 2005 (UTC)

I really don't think this should be categorized as "Michael Jackson" - he may have it, but that doesn't make that a meaninful categorization.--Aerik 04:41, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

This phrase says that MJ has Lupus. It mentions nowhere on MJ's wiki profile that he has Lupus, which is suspicious. --Anonymous 12:30, 23 June 2007 (UTC)

It's mentioned in Physical appearance of Michael Jackson --VpvFin 08:12, 24 June 2007 (UTC)
Its well known that those so-called court depositions were fudged to add some shred of credibility. Jackson never had vitiligo, he used it as an excuse to cover that fact that he was using de-pigmentation therapy to become to white.--124.176.59.2 15:25, 5 September 2007 (UTC)


So you believe that the dermatologist lied under oath about Jackson having vitiligo? Seek out his criminal record both from 1993 and 2005. If there is any reason that you are discrediting those sources its because YOU HAVEN'T ACTUALLY READ THEM YOURSELF and are blindly pointing that they are fabricated! You cannot dispute legitimate sources. And I am assuming that you are not a dermatologist judging from your comments. It is impossible to go under depigmentation therapy "to become white" if you do not have vitiligo! Its "well known" that people will make up anything and look for silly, unrelated and false reasoning in order to dispute facts. In the face of the cold, scientific evidence (i.e. court documents, medical journals, the word of dermatologists), it saddens me that there remains those who do not believe that Jackson has vitiligo. Both the prosecution and defense have maintained that Mr. Jackson has vitiligo in the child molestation cases. One of the most well known factors of the 1993 Jordan Chandler case was that of the description of his genitals, and whether or not Jordan Chandler could describe the blotches accurately; that is an obvious reference to his vitiligo skin.

The people who don’t think Michael suffers from vitiligo know nothing about the disorder itself or about the treatments prescribed to treat it. Your skin in an organ, there are cells within called melanocytes. Vitiligo is an auto-immune disorder, which means that the body’s white attack cells turn on the pigment producing melanocyte cells and destroy them. It is IMPOSSIBLE for one to keep their skin permanently bleached. Cells in our bodies do something called regeneration. They can be killed, but unless your body is consistently killing the cells off, as is the case with those who suffer from vitiligo, your body will keep creating new sets of cells, over and over. You will never be able to keep it consistently pigment free, and most especially over such a large area.

Michael has something called universal vitiligo, which means he has a sever case, affecting over 80% of his body. If a person without vitiligo were to attempt to bleach their skin to the extent Michael’s skin has lost pigmentation, with the medication monobenzylether of hydroquinone prescribed to vitiligo sufferers for dipigmenting SMALL areas which still contain pigment, rather then evenly causing dipigmentation or a gradual lightening of the skin, it would leave long, white streaks down your body, leaving an extremely unsightly appearance. It is impossible to evenly bleach your skin white, people have attempted, in places like Jamaica, to do just that, and guess what, they’ve died from toxin poisoning.

Please change the article to its CORRECT, unbiased form and not describe it as "claims" because you have not done any proper research! This is an encyclopedia, and it is a shame that some editors chose to not adhere to the guidelines because of their own personal systematic thinking. --p4 23:55, 10 October 2007 (UTC)P4poetic


[edit] India

The article states: "The incidence in other countries such as India is thought to be higher." Isn't this just because it's easily noticed in people with darker skin? DavidFarmbrough 07:37, 7 June 2006 (UTC)


A: While there are no official numbers on this, I see more Indians/S.Asians who have Vitiligo. This is not a case of it being more obvious because of the darker complexion. If that were the case, the above statement should hold true for preople of African descent. Also there is some ongoing debate about how an Indian diet that includes turmeric may influence the development of Vitiligo. Of course, there is the point that there are over 1.5 billion S. Asians and so the probability of finding a S. Asian with Vitiligo is higher.

[edit] Causes, chronic and related diseases

I've read an article (written by a dermatologist, mind you, but in swedish) that said that vitiligo had been connected with several other autoimmunological diseases, for example thyroid failiure, diabetes and pernicious anemia. I'd like a link to a good english article about this before I add it though... The swedish article can be found at [5]

Also, should'nt there be a mention of the causes of it (e.g. that the pigment cells are attacked by the immune system) in the intro? The article does metion Vitiligo is thought to be an auto immune disease. The article could use a "Causes" sub heading that explains the different theories for vitiligo in detail.


And last but not least, is it considered a chronic disease? And if so, should'nt that be mentioned in the intro? Hotdogger 21:14, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

Edited to include the word chronic in the intro.

This article should be cleaned up and made more detailed. Something along the lines of the psoriasis article.

[edit] similar skin conditions

I thought one of my friends had this, but upon looking at the article, vitilgo seems to be only lightened patches of skin. My friend is caucasian and has dark patches on his arms. I was hoping to find a section at the bottom of the article directing me to a similar skin condition... so... is darkened skin patches vitiligo as well, or is it something else? --geekyßroad. meow? 02:02, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Darker skin patches definitely not vitiligo (assuming you ar ecorrect in your assessment - i.e. is teh darker patch of skin all that remains of teh norml skin colour and everywhere else is teh lighter skin). That said, for darker patches lots of causes (?whole body or discrete patches, static in size or spreading) and wikipedia is not the place for medical advice, perhaps suggest to your friend that they see tehir pown doctor ? (Ring worm and Pityriasis versicolor might be worth checking). David Ruben Talk 02:28, 21 September 2006 (UTC)
Sounds like some kind of hyperpigmentation - pretty much the exact opposite of vitiligo. Then again, maybe he just poured silver nitrate all over himself :D. Nasty stuff, I can tell ya... makes your fingers look gangrenous... --203.206.183.160 09:16, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] question

can vitiligo change someone's genetic makeup? i just have ot ask cause michael jacons kids are white and dont look half-black at all and it teases my brain thinkin about it.Angelofdeath275 05:55, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

No, it can't. --203.206.183.160 09:16, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Psychological effect

I don't believe that vitiligo is directly responsible for any psychological effects as claimed in the article. These effects seem to be more socialogical - such as stigmas and vanity, which both depend on the perceptions of other people, or how individuals perceive other people's perceptions. I think the mention of stigmas attached to vitiligo is valid, but rather than call this a "psychological effect", I feel it should be called "socialogical impact" or something to that effect.

--Man in shack 00:33, 19 March 2007 (UTC)


I have to agree with your opinion, I am in favor of a change to "sociological impact" instead of "psychological effect". Numerous articles are available on that topic, I'll try to find one and come back to add more to the discussion and/or article.

­Francis The Bird 14:59, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Psychological Source

I wanted to tell one of my personal experiences with vitiligo. I have vitiligo for a couple of years now I'm a student following a bridge program to change my bachelor into a master degree. I'm always under stress.

One of the first signs I had of vitiligo was my skin getting white on the inside of my knees. In a second phase I started to have some white eyelashes. At that time I didn't know I had vitiligo. Sometimes the number of white eyelashes increased sometimes it decreased. It seemed to me that I had those white eyelashes because I was under a lot of stress at that time. I think that was a first sign to come to my conclusion.

Last year I had a simular experience. I just had a long period (about 2 months) of examinations and schooltests. And for the first time in 2 months I saw my girlfriend. We went having dinner together and I spend the night with her. The next morning I woke up with a lot of rashes on my skin. It looked very strange. A couple of days later it seemed like I was starting to repigment. This repigmentation however started to go away again bit by bit, allthough on occasions I have new repigmentations on those same spots. It seems to me that the repigmentation was started because I just had a really good time for the first time in months.

Some say vitiligo is related to hormones, which are related to the anti-immune system. So I think it all makes sense in that way, from my point of view. So enjoy relax and have a good time, who knows what can happen :).

[edit] Why depigment?

Wouldn't it be easier and more aesthetic to simply dye yourself all over? I mean, if I was born black and suddenly my color shifted and I had to pick one or the other, I (well, I'd pick patchy, it looks cool) would definitely choose black over white..

It's harder than simply "dyeing yourself" the point is that the melanin can't maintain color anymore. Tatoo's don't work either, they tend to jsut agrivate the area then the vitiligo will spread around the tattoo.

[edit] Treatment

I have minor vitiligo on my hands. My doctor has told me that his understanding of current medical opinion in the UK is that steroid cream actually makes things worse. Seems somewhat at odds with the article which says that the "traditional treatment given by most dermatologists is corticosteroid cream" (even though it cites a paper) - JonRB 12:14, 5 July 2007 (UTC)


Well, take a look at this link. It might interest you, and there was nothing written about it in the main article!!!!!!!!!! http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=42557&sectionid=3510210 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.167.209.10 (talk) 18:02, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Lead picture?

I'm wondering if we can't get a better lead picture, with the disease more pronouced, such as in this picture: http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2007/HEALTH/conditions/12/18/turning.white.ap/art.vitiligo.thomas.ap.jpg --HoneymaneHeghlu meH QaQ jajvam 20:26, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] External links

External links to patient support groups (especially online chat boards), blogs, and fundraising groups normally not accepted on Wikipedia. Please read the external links policy and the specific rules for medical articles before adding more external links. WhatamIdoing (talk) 00:41, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Eddie Panlilio

I added this since this priest made history here: