Vitiligo – College Essay Example

those options there are also surgical therapies used to treat vitiligo, and they are autologous skin grafts, blister grafting, and tattooing. An autologous skin graft involves moving unaffected skin patches to the affected area. Blister grafting involves creating blisters on skin with pigment left, and then transplanting it onto an area with no pigment. The other surgical option is tattooing.

To do this implants of pigment are tattooed on the affected area. Even with all of these options not one of these has been proven to fully cure vitiligo, they just slow or stop the progression of pigment loss. The main sign of vitiligo is sudden or gradually loss of skin pigmentation, that results in white patches of skin. Other signs can include premature whitening or graying of hair on your scalp, eyelashes, eyebrows, or beard, loss of color on the mucous membranes that line the inside of your mouth, or loss or change of color in the retina of the eye.

Any part of your body may be affected, but it usually develops first on areas that are exposed to the sun, such as the face, elbows, hands, and feet. Anyone can be affected by vitiligo it usually occurs between the age of 10 and 30. Other characteristics of vitiligo include the pattern in which it occurs on the body. There are three patterns vitiligo usually appears in. The first being generalized, pigment loss occurs everywhere, and is often symmetrical.

The next is segmental depigmentation happens only on one side of the body. The last is focal pigment loss is limited to few areas of the body. In conclusion, vitiligo is the loss of pigment of the

skin, and is due by the melanocytes failing to produce melanin in the epidermis. The cause of why people develop is still unknown today, but there are many theories of why it occurs. There also is no permanent cure to reverse or mask the patches of white skin caused by vitiligo.