People with Vitiligo - Vitiligo Cure - Vitiligo Treatment

Albinism is a familial disease characterized by the complete or
partial absence of melanin pigment. Vitiligo is also a skin disease in
which melanocytes(melanin forming cells) are destroyed and as a result
white patches are appear in different parts of  body of affected
person.

Albinism and vitiligo are occasionally confused with each other but
they are relatively different and unrelated disease entities. Albinism
is a hereditary disease while vitiligo is an auto-immune disorder.
Albinism is a stable and incurable disease while vitiligo is curable.
Albinism arises as a result of biochemical imperfection in the
production of melanin pigment whereas vitiligo crops up as a result of
auto-immune demolition of melanocytes.

Albinism is of two types, one in which melanin containing areas of
body (i.e. skin, hair and eyes ) of an individual are affected and
second is ocular albinism in which only eyes are affected. Such a
person may not be able to see in bright light.

The primary aim of addressing the Vitiligo treatment is in reality to better up the visual aspect of the skin. Many a varied therapies as well as discourses are available for vitiligo, which in reality of things take almost one to two years for any effect to be had from them. The selection of a particular treatment for vitiligo depends upon mainly the size and then the time period of the disease. The response of different patient’s skin is different in every case under every treatment.

The treatments those are available here and now for Vitiligo or the Vitiligo treatment as we call it here, admits in discourses such as some of the Medical therapies alike of the Topical Steroid treatment which includes creams. These steroid creams are applied on the white patches for at the very least a time period of three to six months and then result in the form of repigmentation can be viewed.

The other one of the Vitiligo treatment include Psoralen photo-chemotherapy which is as well pretty famous as the psoralen or as well the PUVA therapy, the aim of this treatment is the same yet again and that is to recolor the skin. This is a chemical drug that interacts and the reacts with the ultraviolet light rays to darken up the skin tone. This is as well pretty overmuch time consuming too. Another variation of the same is the Topical psoralen photo-chemotherapy. This one is applied only when the white patches are still at their beginning as well as in many a younger children. Apart from that the way of application is pretty similar.

One more of the Vitiligo treatment, but this time for patients who have some sort of a severity within the disease of Vitiligo is the Oral psoralen photo chemotherapy. This is where you actually get the prescribed dose of the psoralen prior to being exposed to the Ultra violet rays.

For some of the people affected with the disease and somehow not being able to go to the medical facility for the PUVA treatment, the medical practitioner generally provides the required dosage of the Psoralen in a prescription form to have at home as a Vitiligo treatment.

People have been using ultraviolet (UV) light in the form of sunlight to treat vitiligo, eczema, psoriasis, etc from centuries, and most patients still find that their symptoms improve during the sunnier months of the year. But now times have changed and specially designed UV lamps are used for this purpose.

Narrowband UVB is increasingly being used in hospitals for the treatment of vitiligo and various other skin disorders like eczema and psoriasis. It uses specific wavelength of ultraviolet (UV) radiation, 311 to 312 nm, which tends to be more effective than using standard UVB light that contains many different wavelengths.

PUVA is a type of photochemotherapy (vitiligo treatment by means of drugs that react to ultraviolet radiations), which is often used to treat vitiligo. It is a combination of psoralen (a chemical that sensitizes the skin to light which is either taken orally or directly applied to the skin), and Ultra Violet (UVA) light type A.

All forms of UV therapies require a visit to a hospital several times a week. It is usually carried out in a day care dermatology clinic or physiotherapy departments. Initially the UV exposure time is kept short and is increased gradually. The amount of UV exposure received is carefully monitored and the total cumulative dose (expressed as Joules/cm2 skin surface) is recorded because large doses of UV time increases the risk of skin aging and skin cancer, the maximum safe limits for exposure to UV radiation at the hospital are not exceeded.

Most often patients buy a home phototherapy system to get rid of the hassle of traveling to the hospital. These home phototherapy systems provides convenient and better results but screening and education of candidates for home phototherapy is important to ensure compliance with the treatment program.

Before starting any kind of phototherapy you must seek a dermatologist because not everyone’s vitiligo is suitable for narrow-band UVB or other phototherapies. If the area affected by vitiligo is small then it may be appropriate to try topical treatments such as steroid creams (Note: steroids can be harmful if used for long term) in the first place. In case of very extensive vitiligo, treating whole body with creams becomes difficult and in this case narrowband UVB becomes an appropriate option. Light therapy may not be possible for other reasons, such as whether to treat a small child or someone with claustrophobia, which may not tolerate standing in the UV cabinet. Similarly, people who have a skin disease aggravated by light, or a history of excessive sun exposure or skin cancer cases would not be suitable candidates for this form of treatment.

It is not possible to predict the course of vitiligo treatment, whether it will work, and if so, how well. Some areas, particularly the hands and feet are difficult to treat. Generally, treatment is continued for 2-3 months in the first place and if no repigmentation is found then it is discontinued.

People with vitiligo often experience psychological and emotional problems. Sometimes these people may feel that they seem ugly to other people because of their discoloration. This type of feeling often leads to loss of self confidence and self esteem. They think they are worthless so they stop meeting other people and avoid social activities. There may be a tendency to attribute all the sufferings in their lives to Vitiligo.

On the other hand you will find a whole lot of people who have Vitiligo and still are reasonably successful and happy with very little emotional and social problems, these people who do not care about their vitiligo. You might have met a few of them!

Whatever the reasons may be, you can’t disagree that Vitiligo does not hurt all the victims equally. And if it brings less hurt to some people, why can’t you be one of these lucky ones?

It is quite possible that some of the unpleasant things in your life might be due to reasons other than your Vitiligo, and these “other reasons” may be more manageable than your Vitiligo. If you start focusing more on these “other reasons” and rectify the problems, you will start having much better luck in your life. May be you become so successful that people start looking up at you! That may also bring favorable changes to your psyche as well and your approach towards Vitiligo may also turn more positive. You can look up the list of famous people who have Vitiligo and find out how they have managed to get along. Michael Jackson and Amitabh Bachan cab be taken as leading examples.

Here are some points that will help you build self confidence in general.

1. Try to make eye contact with your fellows.

2. Talk to your friends and family members and seek help in building self-esteem.

3. Ask for professional help if required. It can be taken from psychologists, doctors, support groups and social workers.

4. Try to learn about Vitiligo and explore all the treatment options and alternatives.

According to two articles in the October issue of The Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals; people who have stable vitiligo can achieve good re-pigmentation by transplanting their own skin from normally pigmented areas of the body.

These articles state that vitiligo is primarily the most common skin pigment disorders and about 1% of the world population is suffering from this skin disorder. Vitiligo’s psychosocial impact is often underestimated. There are several treatment methods for vitiligo but the standard treatment for vitiligo is UV light therapy and this therapy can last for several months. Transplantation of skin cells is another alternative option for the treatment of vitiligo.

Nanny van Geel, M.D., of Ghent University Hospital, Belgium, and colleagues researched about the effectiveness of using transplanted pigment cells to treat 28 patients with vitiligo. They divided patient into two groups: patients with stable vitiligo (no new de-pigmented patches in the past 12 months, n = 19) and patients with progressive vitiligo (n = 9). The researchers selected 33 pairs of de-pigmented skin patches on the patients, they randomly selected a patch and assigned it to be treated with grafted pigment cells and the other was given a sham transplant. They took this skin from normally pigmented area of the skin. After three weeks of the surgery, all patches were given UV light therapy twice a week for almost two months.

When the researchers analyzed the skin they found that there was a major difference between pigment cells graft sites and placebo graft sites after three, six and twelve months.

The results of this research were like this, one of the group of patients with stable vitiligo re-pigmentation of at least 70 percent of the treated area was achieved in 55 percent, 57 percent and 77 percent of the actively treated lesions at three, six and twelve months after treatment. Whereas in the other group re-pigmentation of at least 70 percent was not achieved at any time point, re-pigmentation was diffuse on 94 percent of responding patients.

The authors wrote that, “After a strict preoperative selection for disease stability, transplantation resulted in re-pigmentation of at least 70 percent of the treated area in most actively treated vitiligo lesions.”

In another research study conducted at the the Noble Clinic, Pune, India, Sanjeev V. Mulekar (M.D.) investigated the long-term effectiveness of skin cell transplantation in sixty seven vitiligo patients. He used a mixture of melanocytes (melanin producing cells) and keratinocytes (structural skin cells) taken from normally-pigmented area on the patients’ own bodies. Patients were followed up for five years.

Dr. Mulekar found that 41 patients (which were 84 percent of the total) with segmental vitiligo had 95 percent to 100 percent re-pigmentation in the treated areas. In patients with focal vitiligo, 73 percent showed an excellent response at the end of their respective follow-up period. “Melanocyte-keratinocyte cell transplantation is a simple, safe, and effective surgical therapy,” Dr. Mulekar writes. “Patients with segmental and focal vitiligo can experience a prolonged disease-free period, which may extend through the rest of their lives.”

Source: http://www.archdermatol.com