Published: 08/07/2018 - Updated: 02/03/2019
Author: MSc. Miriam Reyes
Vitiligo, also known as Leukoderma, is a degenerative skin disease in which the melanocytes (cells that create skin pigmentation) die, and stop producing melanin (the substance that gives skin pigmentation) is the area that the cells have died.
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What does vitiligo look like?
White spots begin to appear on the skin (where there is no longer melanin production), that contrast with the original skin color. These discolorations are frequently circular, with definite borders. They vary in expanse, and if they touch, they can take on indefinite shapes. They are more commonly seen in the extremities (the hands and feet), and flexing and extending areas like elbows and knees. They can sometimes be seen on the face and genitals.
Characteristics of vitiligo
Vitiligo is not contagious, and even though it is not a serious disease, it unravels a psychological conflict in those that suffer from it, due to the anti-aesthetic appearance on the skin. This is especially pronounced in darker skinned people. This disease affects people of both sexes, and the hair that covers the affected areas are albino (white).
What causes Vitiligo?
Science, as with several other diseases, has not proven what causes vitiligo. Certain links have been found, however, that could provoke it, for example:
- Immune disorders: in immune disorder situations, the body creates antibodies against the cells that produce melanin, because of a certain defense disorder.
- Hereditary causes: it is believed that it could be hereditary, although this is very unlikely, however, because very few of these patients have similar cases in their family history.
- Neurovegetative: it is believed that certain substances used by the brain to exchange information (neurotransmitters) change the production of cells that produce melanin.
- Poor thyroid gland functioning
- Stress
- Hormone changes
- Wounds
- Underlying disorder from other illnesses such as pernicious anemia, Addison’s disease, or diabetes.
Conventional treatment for Vitiligo
Therapies for re-pigmentation of the skin have been, until now, very inconsistent, difficult, and very individualized, depending on each case. The most common therapies search to reestablish pigment by exposing the affected sun to ultraviolet radiation. Others are based on medicines that favor melanin production (corticoids and psoralens). Other treatments aim to destroy pigmentation in nearby areas so as to reduce the contrast between the affected and healthy areas. In some cases, people even receive skin grafts.
Recommendations and natural remediesfor vitiligo
- Take one soft capsule of onagra oil with a concentration of 500 mg per capsule. These can be found in botanical pharmacies.
- Avoid stress, criticism, and self-disapproval. Emotional factors can unleash this disease.
- Always wear sunscreen to avoid harming the non-pigmented areas of skin through exposure. Use a high SPF sunscreen, long sleeves, and a hat, and spread cream or Aloe vera on to protect the skin.
Eradicate it from the root
I think that both an immune system deficiency as well as brain transmitter deficiencies could be responsible for this disease. But the deepest causes of this could be an emotional imbalance in whoever suffers from this disease. Emotions undoubtedly continue to be the root that generates all our illnesses. In this case, Vitiligo has its deepest roots in an individual who frequently feels out of place, or rather, they feel left behind, not included, out of the group or unconsidered. They experience feeling like they’re “not there”, or they’re “unseen”, “disappeared”.
This truly does generate stress and a strong, internal anxiety that the body translates in several different ways. So, before looking for remedies everywhere else, those that suffer from vitiligo should first and foremost embrace their feelings and their thoughts about their own life, and embrace their own integration with that. If you feel isolated, misunderstood, often times excluded, you must start to reconsider your life and recover your creative being. You self-esteem can then makes you feel included in your own personal world once again, and what you do with your life will bring you so much joy and satisfaction, that you will feel like an important part of everything that you do.
Revised by: Dra. Loredana Lunadei on 02/03/2019
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