Contents:
- Medical Video: Skin Conditions & Treatments : Vitiligo Cures
- Vitiligo is not contagious and harmless
- Then, can vitiligo be cured?
- Medical treatment to treat vitiligo
- 1. Topical medication
- 2. Vitamin D analogues
- 3. Light therapy (phototherapy)
- 4. Laser therapy
- 5. Skin graft surgery
Medical Video: Skin Conditions & Treatments : Vitiligo Cures
Have you ever heard of vitiligo? Vitiligo is a disease in which the body loses melanin or body skin coloring so the skin loses its original color to pale white. The initial symptoms of vitiligo are the appearance of white patches on the skin that are getting wider and sometimes itchy. Then, can vitiligo be cured? Are there effective ways to cure this skin disorder?
Vitiligo is not contagious and harmless
Vitiligo is a disease that causes loss of skin color. How widespread vitiligo can attack a person's skin and how severe the loss of skin color is is very varied and unpredictable. Vitiligo can attack any part of the skin in the body, and does not rule out the possibility of getting into the hair, the inside of the mouth and even the eyes.
Under normal conditions, the color of the skin, hair, and eyes is determined by a pigment called melanin. In vitiligo, the cells that make up melanin stop functioning or die. Therefore, white patches are formed on the skin due to melanin unable to produce skin color.
Vitiligo is a long-term disease that can occur at any age, but most are experienced before a person is 20 years old. Although vitiligo can affect people of various types and colors of skin, the symptoms may appear more clearly in people with black skin.
Vitiligo is also divided into two categories, thorough vitiligo which attacks both sides of the body and vitiligo which only occurs in certain parts or one side of the body. The most common type is comprehensive vitiligo with an estimated number of sufferers of around 90 percent.
Although not contagious and harmless, vitiligo can make sufferers feel less confident and stressed because they feel confused whether or not vitiligo can heal.
Then, can vitiligo be cured?
Many want to know whether vitiligo can heal or not, actually the treatment of vitiligo only aims to improve the appearance of the skin, but cannot cure the disease. The treatment of vitiligo is intended primarily to improve the aesthetics or appearance of the skin by restoring skin color as before. Unfortunately, the effects of therapy are often only temporary, and do not guarantee the cessation of the spread of the disease.
Sunlight can be a problem for vitiligo sufferers. When exposed to sunlight, the skin will produce melanin to protect the skin against the dangers of ultraviolet light. In patients with vitiligo, the amount of melanin in the skin is insufficient, so the skin is not protected from sunlight. Therefore, be sure to use sunscreen with SPF 30 or more to prevent further skin damage.
In addition, you can also use skin 'camouflage' creams to balance skin tone. This waterproof cream serves to disguise the spots of vitiligo. Another alternative is cosmetic products such as skin darkening lotions or better known as tanning lotion.
Vitiligo can also be treated with medical procedures, but these steps generally have side effects that can affect your health. Therefore, doctors tend to recommend handling vitiligo with maximum body and cosmetic care products before deciding on other treatment steps.
Medical treatment to treat vitiligo
Undergoing medical treatment also requires patience because it takes a long time before you feel its effectiveness. Here are a number of medical procedures that can be carried out by people with vitiligo.
1. Topical medication
Some types of topical drugs used to treat vitiligo are corticosteroids, pimecrolimus or tacrolimusand depigmentation lotions.
Corticosteroid creams or ointments are recommended for people with vitiligo who only have patches on a small part of their body. But this ointment should not be used on the face and avoided by pregnant women.
Corticosteroids have significant side effects, such as thinning skin, and streaks appear on the skin (stretch marks) Therefore, the doctor will monitor the condition of the sufferer regularly during use.
Other topical drugs that can be an alternative are pimecrolimus or tacrolimus. Both are drugs commonly used to treat eczema. Some of the side effects that may occur due to these drugs are that the skin becomes more sensitive to sunlight, a burning or sore sensation appears, and a reddened face and skin irritation when you consume liquor.
If you have vitiligo with white patches in most parts of the body, you can undergo depigmentation. This process is done by applying containing lotion hydroquinone which will dissolve normal skin pigments so that the color becomes similar to those of vitiligo.
Unfortunately, your skin depigmentation will be permanent so that your skin does not have natural protection from the sun anymore. Other than that, hydroquinone also has the potential to cause the skin to feel itchy, sore, and reddish.
2. Vitamin D analogues
Vitiligo sufferers will be advised to avoid exposure to direct sunlight because it adversely affects the skin. In fact, vitamin D is an important source for maintaining healthy bones and teeth. Therefore, most vitiligo sufferers need vitamin D supplements to ensure adequate vitamin D in the body. Use of this drug can be combined with corticosteroids or phototherapy.
3. Light therapy (phototherapy)
This medical step will be selected if the spots of vitiligo sufferers are widespread and cannot be treated with topical medication. This therapy uses ultraviolet A (UVA) or B (UVB) light to restore the skin color affected by vitiligo. Excessive UVA exposure has the potential to increase the risk of skin cancer while UVB exposure will reduce it.
4. Laser therapy
Just like phototherapy, this procedure aims to restore skin color to the spots of vitiligo. But laser therapy is only effective for vitiligo which attacks a small part of the body's skin.
5. Skin graft surgery
In this procedure, healthy skin from parts of the body that do not experience vitiligo will be taken and used to coat the skin that has vitiligo patches. This operation can be done if the spots of vitiligo only attack a small part of the body and do not develop.
