Health and Wellness

Vitiligo is a disease where the skin loses the pigment that gives it colour, and white patches start appearing on the skin surface. The condition is also known as leukoderma and its exact causes are not fully understood. Vitiligo is chronic and this has made completely healing it difficult, but some Vitiligo treatments do offer a temporary or cosmetic cure.

Phototherapy is one of the most sought after Vitiligo treatment, under which, doctors carry out a controlled tanning of the skin using ultraviolet rays. The patient is first asked to consume Psoralen orally or the same is applied on the white patches. Melanocytes, the cells that produce melanin, are then stimulated through exposure to ultraviolet rays.

As discussed at the vitiligo treatment web site, grafting of skin is another remedy for Vitiligo patients. This is a surgical procedure where the affected skin is replaced with a melanocyte graft, which is expected to start producing melanin in the affected area.

Sometimes the disease ends up affecting almost the entire span of the patients skin. In such cases, artificial de-pigmentation of unaffected skin is an option. This process causes the non-white areas to fade somewhat as the skin colour is the same throughout, which is a better option cosmetically than having a patched skin. However, this is an extreme measure and it should be considered as a last resort.

Some people also vouch for the efficacy of natural Vitiligo treatments. Ginkgo biloba and oil extracted from peppermint are often recommended in such treatments. Several cosmetics, which hide the white patches, can also be found, and a specialist should be able to recommend some good products.

Even though a lot of research is still required to identify the true causes of this skin disorder, these Vitiligo treatments can offer both long and short-term relief to the patients. A permanent cure for the disease cannot be too far away with the rapid growth that is taking place in biotechnology today.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 14th, 2009 at 11:42 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.