Vitiligo is a long-term skin condition where a lack of melanin – the pigment in the skin, causes white patches to develop. It is most likely to affect the hands, neck, face and skin creases. It can also occur on the scalp, and hair can turn white due to a lack of melanin in the area.

Signs of vitiligo include loss of color in the skin, premature graying in the hair, loss of color in the tissues that line your mouth and nose or loss of colour in the inner layer of the eyeball. Vitiligo does not cause any soreness, but skin can occasionally be itchy. The condition varies from person to person, some people may only get a few small patches, other may suffer with bigger patches that join up across their skin.

There are treatments available to help restore skin tone or color, but these results are unpredictable. It may take a long time to see any results and some treatments have hazardous side effects. Your doctor may recommend using makeup or tanning products to improve the skins appearance.

There is no medication that can stop the process of vitiligo. Some drugs combined with light therapy can help improve skin tone. Creams to control the inflammation such as corticosteroid cream is effective but can take a long time to show improvement and can cause skin thinning. Ointments containing calcineriun inhibitors which affect the immune system, by be effective and have fewer side effects that the corticosteroid cream, however there are some concerns between these drugs and some types of skin cancer.

Light therapy, combined with a plant derived substance called psoralen, taken orally, has had better results returning color to the light patches. However repeated treatments will be required up to three times a week for up to 6 months.

Other treatment options can include skin graft surgery or micropigmentation a form of tattooing. Both treatment options are risky and may not produce the required results.