5 good things about having vitiligo

Last Updated on 19th July 2023 by Caroline Haye

Compensations for a patchy skin

Despite a firm belief in the power of positive thinking, I never succeeded in being remotely positive about my vitiligo while it was active. But, ever since emerging on the other side of the experience, as it were, I find I can take a more balanced view of its impact. And I now appreciate that, along with the distress my patchy skin caused me over the years, there have been some significant plus points that genuinely added value to my life… And, I’d like to think, to the lives of others too. In reality, there are probably many more pluses than immediately come to mind. But, just for now, I’d like to share these 5 good things about having vitiligo. (And if you have some of your own, please feel free to add them in the comments at the bottom of the page.)

1. A greater respect for my skin

The majority of people take their skin for granted, just as they take their teeth, eyesight, hair and memory for granted… Until they start to lose them. Not that I lost my skin as such. At least, not in the sense of waking up one morning to find bits literally hanging off by a thread. But, if you have had progressive vitiligo yourself, you will know what I mean when I say that each new patch made me feel like I had physically lost another chunk of me.

My skin was like a jigsaw puzzle that was gradually being taken apart. At first, looking in the mirror was like seeing an almost complete puzzle. A familiar picture, with just a few small gaps in. Then, as time went on, the gaps grew and multiplied, until half the picture was missing… And eventually, so much disappeared that it was impossible to remember what the original looked like.

I’m sure you can tell, from my description, that I found this experience distressing and bewildering. But it did fill me with a new respect for something I had previously never given much thought. It made me appreciate how marvellous, ingenious and miraculous human skin really is. (Even imperfect skin, as mine had become.) And if you doubt that your skin is as amazing as all that, then take a look at this post: 6 Reasons Not To Hate Your Vitiligo Skin. I think you will be astounded at all the features and functions of this living packaging we are all wrapped in.

This is why I now have a sense of wonder and reverence for my skin. (Yes – even the bits that are still a little mottled). In fact, I treat it with greater care and respect than ever before. Not only that, but I also find myself admiring other people’s skin. (Not in a creepy way, I hasten to add. Just wondering if they realise how very fortunate they are.)

2. Inner strength

As the saying goes, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. This may sound like I’m scraping the barrel for positives. And, to be fair, this isn’t one that often occurred to me at the time. My appreciation of this fringe benefit didn’t really hit me until after my recovery. So it may be cold comfort to you if you are still going through the “killing” and have not yet reached the “stronger” bit of the process.

Then again, maybe just reading this will be enough to inspire you to look beyond what you are going through right now… And know that life has a way of compensating you sooner or later for your struggles. There is no doubt in my mind that my own vitiligo journey helped me to build a degree of mental toughness and self-knowledge that I would not otherwise have achieved.

3. Compassion for others

Another example of how vitiligo has brought its own rewards is that it has given me much greater insight into the experiences and emotions of others. The ability to put myself in the other person’s shoes is something I was aware was a blessing even while my vitiligo was spreading rapidly. In fact, if you had asked me then if there were any upsides to having vitiligo, that would have been the only one I could have named.

It’s hard to convey this without sounding either sentimental or smug. And I am neither of those things. So I hope you will understand this in the way I intend it. But, having widespread vitiligo, starting in early childhood and progressing well into middle age, was something that had a profound effect on me emotionally. Not just emotionally, but on every aspect of my life. And I believe this made me much more sensitive somehow to the distress and difficulties that others go through in their lives. (Not just in the context of vitiligo either.) So, when I come across people with particular problems that they are struggling with I almost feel like I am going through it with them and I just want to make things right.

Not that I am unusual in this respect. Many people with vitiligo seem to share this increased capacity for compassion. And this isn’t limited to the vitiligo community either. I think it is common to anyone who has been through something difficult and life-changing. (Life-threatening illness, war, bereavement, homelessness… the list goes on). You could even say “what doesn’t kill you makes you kinder“. Going through struggles of your own makes you more understanding of the struggles of others. And that, by any measurement, has to be a good thing. After all, if everyone had a little more compassion and understanding for their fellow human beings what a different world this would be.

4. Knowledge

Another good thing about having had vitiligo is that it has been an education… literally. In my attempts to find information about the condition I have put in considerably more time, study and effort than most degree courses demand. (Not that I am claiming to have the equivalent of a degree in “vitiligology”! But it is amazing how much knowledge you can pick up over the course of a decade or so when you focus on one subject for several hours a day and when you are so personally motivated.)

My actual degree had nothing whatever to do with medicine. In fact, I never had much aptitude for any of the sciences. So I am certain that, if it weren’t for vitiligo, I would never have found myself reading all kinds of medical research papers or becoming so deeply interested in natural healing, nutrition and human biology. But, after a few months or years (I don’t remember exactly when) I suddenly realised I was beginning to understand more and more of what I read, beginning to think for myself and starting to apply what I was learning. And surely that is what education is all about.

5. The opportunity to help

Obviously, we all suffer struggles and heart aches. And I don’t claim that mine have been any greater or smaller than anyone else’s. It’s not a competition. Suffering and sadness are simply an unavoidable part of being alive. (In fact, maybe that is another plus point I hadn’t even considered… Problems are proof that you are still alive and kicking.) But it seems to me that these experiences are never wholly negative as long as you can use them to lighten someone else’s burden in some way. Even if it’s just to make them smile for a few seconds. And certainly if it’s to help them feel better about their situation, give them hope or help them feel less alone on their journey.

I feel genuinely privileged to have been able to share my experiences and solutions with others via this blog, as well as one-to-one in many cases. And, trite as it may sound to anyone who has not had such an opportunity, this has been without doubt the greatest compensation of having had vitiligo. In fact, it is not just compensation. That would suggest it only cancels out the distress I felt in the past. In reality, it goes beyond that. It turns something that felt so bleak and damaging at the time into a real blessing. And this fills me with appreciation and purpose every single day.

A final added bonus

So there they are… My 5 good things about having vitiligo. Yet, as I come to the end of this post, it occurs to me that there is at least one other bonus that vitiligo added to my life. And it is so obvious that I almost forgot to mention it. It is the indescribable joy I felt (and still do every time I think about it) at seeing my skin pigment return.

Calling this a plus point may sound strange. A bit like saying that it was worth having the worst migraine ever just for the relief when it ended. You’d rather not have the migraine in the first place, right? And, yes, I may have preferred never to have had vitiligo at all. But my sheer relief and amazement at recovering from a condition I expected to endure for the rest of my life really did, in all the ways I have mentioned, make the whole experience worthwhile. [To understand what I mean about this you might need to read my previous post, When Your Vitiligo Repigments, where I try to put these feelings into words.]

Some individuals don’t have to try too hard to think of ways that vitiligo has impacted positively on their life. Others, like me, only see the plus points in our rear view mirror. Many more, I suspect, would struggle to think of any at all. So why not find out which category you are in by sharing your thoughts? You might be surprised what comes to mind. And, whether those thoughts are positive or negative, I think you’ll find the very act of verbalising or writing them is surprisingly therapeutic.