Dealing with Vitiligo

Most of the people are psychologically affected by vitiligo because of the change in appearance caused by it. You may experience lack of self-confidence, emotional stress or a feeling of embarrassment while going in front of others especially if the condition develops on visible areas of the body like face, hand, arms or feet. This may be because of the feeling that you are worried about how others will react after looking at you. But I want to tell you that by getting ashamed and depressed you will put yourself in trouble. This will worsen your condition and you may further decide to stay alone and start avoiding gatherings. You should feel happy by reading the fact that this skin disorder does not harm physically, it just causes cosmetic discomforts.

You should understand that anybody can acquire this skin disorder at any stage of life. If you are concerned about your appearance and feel devastated by widespread vitiligo then you use cosmetic camouflages for disguising your white patches. If you are still not satisfied then you can look for re-pigmentation treatments that can provide you uniform skin color for longer period of time which may three to four years.

Among these re-pigmentation treatments PUVA is believed to be one of the best treatments as it is found 50-70 percent successful. It does not show good results on hands and feet but it works well on other parts of the body. For your ease you can buy a portable or handheld UV lamp and can start phototherapy at your home. UVB narrow band treatment is found more secure than sunlight because of the harmful factors of sunlight like skin aging, risk of skin cancer etc.

But I’ll suggest and recommend you that before going under any treatment first of all you should consult a dermatologist. You should also try to learn more and more about vitiligo as it would help in making important decisions about your health care. If you feel that you are feeling depressed and are lacking self-confidence then you must consult a metal health professional as they can help you a lot. Further you can talk with other people who have vitiligo and can get help from them about managing vitiligo.