People with Vitiligo - Vitiligo Cure - Vitiligo Treatment

Patients with vitiligo, a skin disease characterized by patches of un-pigmented skin, had better re-pigmentation of these patches when they were treated with a combination of laser therapy and tacrolimus ointment than the patients who were treated only with laser therapy, according to an article in the September issue of The Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

According to this article one to two percent people around the world are affected by vitiligo. Recently, the 308 nanometer excimer laser has shown good results in treating vitiligo patients. Furthermore, a new topical ointment (tacrolimus) has also given good results.

Thierry Passeron, M.D., of Hopital de l’Archet, Nice, France, and colleagues examined the results of the 308-nm excimer laser therapy in combination with tacrolimus ointment on 14 vitiligo patients aged between twelve and sixty three years.

In this comparative prospective randomized intra individual study, patients were divided into two groups (A & B). Four to ten lesions were chosen from each patient. Group A was treated twice a week with the 308-nm excimer laser for a total of 24 sessions and topical 0.1 percent tacrolimus ointment was also applied twice a day to target lesions for patients in group A whereas Group B was only given laser treatment. A total of forty-three lesions were treated (23 in group A and 20 in group B). The researchers observed hundred percent re-pigmentation in all group A lesions and eighty percent in 17 out of 20 group B lesions.

Researchers also compared treated lesions with control lesions (which were not treated) on the opposite side of the body and did not observe any re-pigmentation.

The authors wrote that, “A re-pigmentation rate of 75 percent or more was obtained in 16 (70 percent) of the 23 group A lesions and in 4 (20 percent) of the 20 group B lesions.” They noticed that average number of sessions needed to see improvements in re-pigmentation was 10 for group A and 12 for group B.

The researchers concluded that, “The combination of 0.1 percent tacrolimus ointment applied twice daily and 308-nm excimer laser therapy performed twice a week gives excellent results on UV-sensitive and UV-resistant areas. The treatment was well tolerated, and the patients were satisfied.”

Source: http://www.jama.com/

According to a report in the March issue of Archives of Dermatology, “An isolated, inbred Romanian community has a higher than average frequency of the skin disease Vitiligo and other autoimmune diseases, suggesting a genetic variation that may indicate susceptibility to the condition in a broader population.”

Vitiligo is skin disorder in which white colored progressive patches appear on different parts of the body. This happens because of the decrease in the number of Melanocytes (pigment producing cells). 0.38 percent of the whites are affected by Vitiligo and this happens with similar frequency in populations worldwide. Researchers are trying to key out the genes responsible of susceptibility to Vitiligo so that effective treatments can be developed.

The researchers studied 1673 residents of geographically isolated community in Northern Romania between 2001 and 2006, there they identified patients with Vitiligo and collected information on demographic data, genealogies, occurrence of other diseases and family structure. Patients’ relatives were also examined in this research activity.

During this research activity the researchers found 51 patients with Vitiligo. The authors say that “The 2.9 percent frequency of Vitiligo in the study community is 19.3 times its 0.15 percent frequency in the five surrounding villages, 7.5 times that among whites on the island of Bornholm, 5.7 times that among individuals in Calcutta, India and 22.5 times that among Han Chinese in Shaanxi Province, China, the only other populations for which empirically determined prevalence estimates have been published.” Rates of other autoimmune diseases were also increased; these diseases included thyroid disease, adult-onset type 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.

According this research 36.5 is the average age at which symptoms of Vitiligo first developed this average age is greater than the average age of onset among white individuals i.e. 24.2 years. Analysis indicated that environmental exposure work as a trigger for Vitiligo. The authors wrote that the disease susceptibility appears to involve a main genetic component; actual onset of Vitiligo in genetically susceptible people seems to need exposure to environmental triggers.

The researchers concluded that “While this gene variant is of particular importance in this isolated special population, it likely is also involved in disease susceptibility in the broader white population and, thus, is of broader importance.”

Source

Many people believe that gray hair is a sign of wisdom but scientists have proved that wisdom has nothing to do with it. Researchers say that our hair turn gray because of the massive development of hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is massively built up by wear and tear of hair follicles. The hydrogen peroxide blocks the normal synthesis of melanin (substance that gives skin/hair its color).

Gerald Weissmann, MD, Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal told that our hair cells make a little bit of hydrogen peroxide, but as we grew older, this little bit becomes a lot. We get our hair pigment bleached from within, and this bleaching causes our hair to turn gray and then white.

Researchers made this discovery by analyzing cell cultures of human hair follicles. They observed that the development of hydrogen peroxide was caused by a reduction of an enzyme that collapse hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen (catalase). They also found out that hair follicles could not restore the harm caused by the hydrogen peroxide because of low-levels of enzymes that generally serve this function (MSR A and B). It is also noted that the high levels of hydrogen peroxide and low levels of MSR A and B, disrupt the formation of an enzyme (tyrosinase) that directs to the production of melanin in hair follicles.

In simple words, our hair follicles (a tube of tissue under the skin that surrounds root of every strand of hair) have certain number of pigment cells. These cells produce a chemical called melanin; this melanin gives color to our hair. As people grow older the pigment cells in their hair follicles gradually die due to more production of hydrogen peroxide and when fewer pigment cells are left in a hair follicle then that strand of hair starts becoming lighter and lighter because of reduction of melanin. This can happen at any age. In some people it starts at a younger and in others it might start at a later stage. It depends on one’s genes.

Report published online in The FASEB Journal.