What Is Vitiligo? Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, and Treatment
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Promising research is underway examining the genetic roots of vitiligo and testing compounds and treatments that may interrupt the autoimmune response, inflammation, and the destruction of melanocytes. Areas of current vitiligo research include:
- Medication that promotes the growth of melanocytes
- Medication intended to bring color back to the affected area
- A skin-grafting surgery called noncultured epidermal cell suspension
- Immune-targeting therapy to reverse the condition
- Gene therapy that reprograms melanocytes to prevent an autoimmune reaction
In addition to the investigation of these novel treatments, much of the latest vitiligo research has focused on gaining a better understanding of the genes involved with how the condition starts in the first place. By doing so, researchers hope to get closer to developing a treatment that prevents vitiligo from occurring or spreading.
Since something in the environment appears to be responsible for triggering vitiligo (as people are not born with the condition), researchers have also focused on understanding what those triggers are and why they incite such a response within the cells.
Why People With Vitiligo Are Joining the Body Positive Movement
While some people with vitiligo seek treatment to cover up or repigment their skin, others choose to embrace the condition however it shows up. Ash Soto from Orlando, Florida, falls into that camp. She documents her experience with vitiligo on her Instagram page, which has more than 130,000 followers.
Soto was diagnosed with vitiligo at age 12 after she saw a white spot on her neck and then noticed another one appear within a few months. “I remember being really scared and confused,” she says.
Soto admits she was teased at school for the way her skin looked and says her vitiligo hurt her self-esteem and made her feel insecure. By her late teens, however, she had decided to embrace her skin and use it as a canvas for art, which she shares photos of on Instagram. Her photos are accompanied by inspirational captions that promote a love-yourself mentality.
As for Soto, she’s all for vitiligo being included in the body positive movement. “When I was younger, I didn’t have anybody to look up to,” she says. “It’s so important for us to raise awareness for kids who are being diagnosed now.”
Since vitiligo doesn’t usually go away over time, it’s important that vitiligo patients develop coping strategies by learning about the condition and connecting with others who are living with it, too.
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