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Albinism in Humans

Albinism is a Latin word derived from “Albus” means white. It is

albinism

albinism

alsoknownas Achromia. It is a hereditary disease. In this disease melaninpigment, which is responsible for color of skin, eyes, and hair isabsent. It is a congenital disorder and most common in those societieswhere inter-marriages are arranged between close blood relatives. Although Albinos lead normal happy life but lack of melanin pigmentincreases the risk of skin cancer and other problems.
There are two types of enzymes in melanin pigment. i.e., tryosinase positive & tryosinase negative. In melanocytes tryosinase enzyme which is  responsible for the formation of melanin pigment may be present or absent which results in the darkness of skin. It is not a contagious disease.  Lack of skin pigmentation makes the person more susceptible to sunburn. Ocular Albinism (only eyes lack melanin pigment) is an X-linked recessive trait and hence more common in males.  In this, the affected person may not be able to see in bright light.
The main difference b/w human albinism and vitiligo is that albinism is a biochemical disorder while vitiligo is an auto-Immune disorder. Albinism is a stable and incurable disease while vitiligo is curable.

Diseases that look like Vitiligo

Vitiligo is a skin disease which turns the skin into white patches. Vitiligo

disease-that-look-like-vitiligo

disease-that-look-like-vitiligo

occurs when melanocytes that are responsible for skin pigmentation, die or unable to perform their function. Segmented vitiligo is a common form of vitiligo. Vitiligo has some confusion with other diseases like nevus depigmentosus, white scars and hypopigmentation, pityriases Alba, idiopathic guttate hypomelanosis and pigmentation.

Nevus depigmentosus is a stable disease which is limited to a small area. It appears in the form of white spots on body. It increases as the growth of body increases. The main cause of this disease is the irregularity in the function of melanocytes which produce little pigments.

White scars and hypopigmentation is another skin disease which looks like vitiligo. In this disease scars appear due to injury. Scars may be white or colored; it depends on type of injury. Scars can be a result of physical, chemical or inflammatory as acne.  Melanocytes may destroy or damage due to injury. Therefore white scars and hypopigmentation occurs.

Pityriases Alba is also a skin disease which is frequently present in children. It mostly comes into views in dry weather and the people having dry skin. It generally appears as dry scales, pale patches on the face. Pityriases Alba can be treated by moisturizing cream. Normally, boys are affected by this disease. It takes place due to activity of melanocytes abnormally low.

Idiopathic guttate hypomelanosis has also confusion with vitiligo. Generally, women suffer from this disease. It appears in the form of round shape on skin. Parts of body having exposure of sun light, experience idiopathic guttate hypomelanosis like face, forearms, shoulders. A medical treatment that involves removal of damage tissues and cells known as biopsies is used to treat that problem but as a result thickness of skin reduces. Protection from the sun is very important in this disease. It is commonly observed in people having fair complexion.

Pigmentation is a phenomenon of coloring. .Pigment means color. In biological term it means “a material that give color to the cells of human beings, animals and plants’’. It determines the color of eyes, hair and skin. Many conditions can change the level of pigment. Sometimes level of pigments increases due to excessive tanning and pregnancy known as hyper pigmentation. Sometimes level of pigment decreases known as hypopigmentation due to vitiligo, leprosy, albinism and many others.

Diseases like vitiligo have little existence but vitiligo is most common now. Vitiligo does not damage the health. But it destroys the personality badly and creates psychological problems. It can come out in any age, race and in any gender.

The Difference in Albinism and Vitiligo

albinism-in-human

albinism-in-human

Albinism is a familial disease characterized by the complete or partialabsence 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.

vitiligo

vitiligo

Treatments for vitiligo

The primary aim of addressing the Vitiligo treatment is in reality to better

treatment-for-vitiligo

treatment-for-vitiligo

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.

Vitiligo Phototherapy

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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.