What is vitiligo ?


Vitiligo is a chronic skin disorder characterized by the appearance of white or discolored patches on the skin. Also called Leucoderma, it affects nearly 1% of the world population.

The early signs of vitiligo are white/discolored patches on the sun-exposed body areas, such as face, hands, feet, arms and lips. In some cases, the hair also turn gray and people even notice a color l oss inside their mouth. Leucoderma does not cause itching, redness or pain before or after the white spots develop. So, in case you experience these symptoms, consult with your doctor immediately.

Vitiligo usually appears between the age of 10 and 30, and is more likely to affect people with darker skin, but it can happen to any person regardless of the age, gender or race. These white patches on the skin do not spread from person to person, and has nothing to do with your diet. But, it is more likely to get triggered by autoimmune diseases, like alopecia areata, pernicious anemia, etc.

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What are the causes of Vitiligo?


Vitiligo is caused due to the damage of melanocytes, the cells that give color to the skin, hair and nails. Though the actual reason behind this condition is unknown, but it is said to be due to the body’s own immune system that think melanocytes as foreign cells and attack them. Sometimes, Alopecia Areata, Psorasis, Diabetes, Pernicious Anemia, Hypothyroidism and other such diseases are also associated with Leucoderma. Apart from these, stress, sunburns and chemical exposure also cause Vitiligo.



Is Vitiligo treatable?


Yes, vitiligo is treatable. At DermaClinix, we provide three types of treatment for white patches on the skin, i.e, Medication, Light Therapy and Surgery.

Medication

In case of unstable, we prefer use of various topical as well as oral medicines for vitiligo treatment. The medications are chosen on the basis of various factors, including the affected body surface area and the number of new patches developed in the last 1-3 months. The most commonly prescribed medicine is a potent or super-potent topical Corticosteroid and Tacrolimus cream . They work more effectively, when combined with other medicines.

Light Therapy

This technique involves the use of laser/light devices to treat the white spots on the skin. We recommend light treatments along with topical medications for better and faster results.

  • Phototherapy: Phototherapy involves the use of various electromagnetic rays to treat Leucoderma (vitiligo). PUVA or Photochemotherapy is a common type of Phototherapy in which the patient is asked to have a medication called Psoralen and then, expose the area to be treated to UVA rays. This technique works in two ways- it kills the abnormal immune cells (cells damaging the melanocytes) and increases the resistance to sunlight. This way, it increases the quantity of melanocytes and thus, let you get rid of vitiligo. To get the best phototherapy treatment for vitiligo, visit us!
  • Targeted Phototherapy: Also known as Concentrated Phototherapy and Focused Phototherapy, this technique involves delivery of UV rays directly or indirectly on the white spots. Usually, the targeted phototherapy devices (both laser and non-laser type) emit rays in the UVB range, but some emit UVA radiations as well. This light therapy for vitiligo causes numerous changes in your skin, such as induction of alteration in cytokine production, local immunosuppresion, stimulation of melanocyte-stimulating hormone, increased melanocyte proliferation and melanogenesis in a more vigorous way, due to the supererythemogenic dose of radiation. And this results in an even skin tone.
  • Excimer Laser: Excimer laser is one of the devices used for the vitiligo treatment. It uses a precisely focused beam of monochromatic therapeutic light with wavelength of 308nm delivered through a sophisticated fiber optic device. The light, when targeted to the affected skin tissue, helps in recovering the skin tone without harming the healthy, pigmented skin. The results are expected to last for months to years. To find the cost of excimer laser vitiligo treatment, give us a call now!
Surgical Treatment

We provide surgical treatments with a very high success rate to patients with stable vitiligo. That means, no new spot developed or change in the size of the existing ones in the last one year.

  • Autologous Melanocyte Transplant: It is the most advanced and just the best vitiligo treatment. During a melanocyte transplantation, a sample of your unaffected pigmented skin is taken out and melanocytes present in thin skin is separated and then, they are transplanted to the vitiligo affected area. This technique has more than 80% chances of repigmentation and expansion ratio is 1:10.
  • Hair Transplantation: Hair Transplant surgery is also an effective method to treat stable vitiligo. Since the hair follicles are good reservoirs of melanocytes, the hair follicles are transplanted to the area to be treated. The melanocytes present in the hair follicles spread to the surrounding area and repigmented the skin. DermaClinix is one of the best centers for vitiligo treatment. Our senior doctors, Dr. Kavish Chouhan and Dr. Amrendra Kumar, are the pioneer of Body Hair transplant in vitiligo.
  • Suction Blister grafting: In this treatment for white skin spots, blisters are created on the patient’s pigmented skin using suction. The tops of the blisters are taken out and transplanted to the vitiligo affected area. This method is also effective to cure vitiligo, as it leaves minimal scarring in the recipient or donor site.
  • Autologous Skin grafts/ Split Thickness Skin grafts (STSG): This vitiligo method involves shaving off thin layers of skin from the unaffected skin and sowing/stapling on the area to be treated. It is useful to treat larger body areas and produce consistent pigmentation with no cobblestoning. To know more, book an appointment with our experts now!
  • Micropigmentation (Tattooing): This technique involves implantation of minute, metabolically inert pigment particles under the vitiligo affected skin so as to make its color closely resembling to that of the surrounding skin.



What about the results?


The results vary from patient to patient. In some cases, the response to vitiligo treatments is immediate, while in the other cases, the considerable results are seen after a few months. Likewise, the repigmentation at non-hair bearing region like finger tips and ankles is a little slower than that in case of other body areas. For the best vitiligo treatment in Delhi, visit us!