A holistic approach to vitiligo recovery

Last Updated on 13th March 2024 by Caroline Haye

Whole-person therapy for a whole-person condition

Vitiligo is one of those poorly understood conditions that defies simple explanation and simple treatment. Until quite recently it received scant attention from health providers and researchers. In fact, most doctors believed it was a harmless cosmetic disorder. It had no cure and was not worth treating. (Sad to say, many still take this view.) And, while awareness and scientific research have improved massively in the past decade or so, vitiligo is still a puzzle waiting to be solved.

It seems that the more we learn about it, the more there is to learn. Largely because it is a “multifactorial” disease. This means it has no straightforward cause and no simple cure because it involves multiple pathways and affects multiple systems in our body. Which, I suppose, explains why it is taking so long to develop new anti-vitiligo treatments. And it begs the question, is a drug the best way to treat a multifactorial condition anyway? Surely a disease that affects the whole person is crying out for a therapy that treats the whole person. In other words, a holistic approach to vitiligo recovery.

What’s wrong with drugs?

Of course, what most of the vitiligo community wants is a total cure. A wonder-drug that will magically eradicate every trace of this “multifactorial” condition from our body… Not just the white spots on our skin. But that’s not really how pills or vaccines work. And, much as I am excited about current vitiligo research and look forward to hearing about new pharmaceuticals, I am also realistic.

New drugs are highly unlikely to restore health, as such. The best they will do is target the principal symptom of vitiligo… the white spots. And they will have side effects (whether mild or not, we don’t yet know). So, the most we can reasonably hope for from an anti-vitiligo drug is that it will restore pigment to our skin for as long as we continue to use it. And we will need to be willing to put up with the possible adverse effects that come with it.

So, am I anti-mainstream medicine when it comes to vitiligo?

No, I am not anti-mainstream medicine. I am excited by anything that can improve the condition and quality of life for people with vitiligo. So I am eagerly awaiting the introduction of new drugs that promise to treat the visible symptoms of this disease, even though they are unlikely to improve any underlying issues.

Mainstream vitiligo research excites me for two reasons. One: the more treatment options we can have, the better for everyone… After all, different treatments suit different people and the more choice we have, the better all round. And two: the more science understands about the processes and pathways involved in vitiligo, the more effectively we will be able to use every form of treatment… From pharmaceuticals to complimentary medicines. Knowledge is power, whatever kind of therapy you favour.

Holistic vitiligo research

But what I would really love to see is more research into holistic treatments for vitiligo. (Although this is unlikely to happen for the simple reason that there is not enough money in it for potential investors.) I know, from my own experience, that vitiligo can and does respond to holistic therapies… Therapies that are gentle and safe because they allow the body to heal itself naturally and on many more levels than just the cosmetic one. In my case, nutritional supplementation and careful sun exposure reversed my pigment loss and improved a host of other issues (e.g. poor digestion and fatigue) at the same time.

Happily, one of the great advantages of a holistic approach to disease is that it does not rely on having to know everything about that disease for it to work. It is not like developing new drugs, which involves years of painstaking and complex lab experiments and clinical trials. All the human body really needs in order to stand the best chance of repairing itself naturally (as it is designed to do) is the application of some relatively basic common-sense practices.

Reversing vitiligo holistically may be simpler than you think

Before I go on to explain why reversing vitiligo holistically may be simpler than you think, I should clarify what I mean by “holistic”. By using this word I am not referring to any particular branch of complementary medicine. I am using it in its broadest sense. Merriam-Webster defines “holistic” as relating to or concerned with wholes or with complete systems rather than with the analysis of, treatment of, or dissection into parts. In other words, the very opposite of treating symptoms in isolation (as modern western medicine tends to do). And, if you wanted to describe this approach in the simplest terms possible, it would consist of doing just two things…

1. Avoiding whatever is making your health worse (risk factors), and
2. Doing those things that will make your health better (healthy habits).

You really can’t get much simpler than that. It’s all about staying away from risk factors on the one hand and giving the body (and mind) what it needs to thrive on the other. Whether this approach is easy is another matter. I suppose that depends on how motivated you are to get well. But it certainly is simple. And, better still, it is safe. The very worst possible outcome is that it will improve your physical and mental well-being. The best is that it may also help to heal your vitiligo.

Risk factors

The following risk factors are especially important for those of us with an autoimmune disease (or any other chronic illness). But anyone in normal health would do well to avoid them too. Because, let’s face it, no one is bomb proof. And, while a person with a strong constitution may think they are getting away with a certain lifestyle, sooner or later their body might have other ideas. So, here are some obvious risk factors – and some less obvious ones. Removing these, as far as possible, from our daily lives could make a big difference to our condition and our ability to recover from it.

10 things to avoid

1. Potential environmental toxins (e.g. domestic and industrial chemicals, harmful ingredients in everyday products, air and water pollution. See Vitiligo or chemical Leukoderma? for more details).
2. Allergens and irritants (See Can allergies cause vitiligo? and Your clothing may be to blame for your vitiligo).
3. Tech hazards (e.g. too much time spent on devices and sleeping with your mobile phone in your bedroom. See this article on the effects of too much screen time.).
4. Too much time indoors and too little fresh air, sunshine and nature. (See this article on “Sick Building Syndrome” and this one on what happens to your body when you spend too long inside
5. Lack of healthy routines (e.g. irregular mealtimes and sleep times. We all know how disruptive this can be. Also, how harmful lack of quality sleep is. See Can sleep cure vitiligo?).
6. Too little exercise (or too much indoor exercise. Take a look at the benefits of outdoor exercise.)
7. A lack of mental space / “me time” / spiritual time. (This blog explains its importance.)
8. Too little relaxation and healthy recreation. (See Relaxation therapy for vitiligo.)
9. Mental stress and physical trauma. (See Why do skin injuries cause vitiligo?)
10. A damaging diet (e.g. a normal western diet which is inflammatory, high in sugar and processed goods and lacking in nutritional value).

What healthy habits does the human body (and mind) thrive on?

To some extent, the health-giving, nurturing things that we thrive on are the exact opposite of the risk factors I have listed above. But they are much more than that. I am not just talking about an absence of harm. I’m talking about positive actions that require proactive decisions. Changes that require us to form new daily habits. And this is the part of this holistic approach that, while simple enough, may not be so easy. However, the good thing is that we don’t have to do them all at once in order to start seeing results. Every risk factor we avoid and every positive action we take helps to tip the balance in our favour. So, why not ask yourself how many of these actions you could take today and start turning into a new holistic health habit?

10 habits to cultivate

1. Switch your household and work space over to kinder products. (Ditch the high street brands and go natural, eco and organic as far as possible.)
2. Choose foods and clothing that are allergen-free if you know you suffer from sensitivities. If you are not sure what causes your allergy symptoms, get tested so you know what to do about it. Make sure your indoor environment is as dust-free, pet-hair-free, mould-free, etc. as possible and keep rooms well ventilated.
3. Switch over a significant percentage of your screen time to constructive or artistic hobbies, relaxation, family time or outdoor activities. And ban all devices at mealtimes, before bedtime and overnight.
4. Make it a rule to do something every day that gets you out of the house or workplace for a significant amount of time. (The longer, the better. And preferably in a green space.). Walking, gardening, cycling, sports, picnics, yoga, swimming or just sitting on a park bench and reading or meditating… These are just a few of the options that come to mind. Simply being outside in nature has powerful healing properties.
5. Create healthy routines that add quality to your life… Like regular meal and bed times. (Our parents did this for us when we were children. And it is no less important for us to do it ourselves as adults.) Regular breaks throughout the working day and time for friends and hobbies are also part of this healthy lifestyle and work-life balance.
6. If you know that you need more exercise, don’t force yourself to go jogging, unless you love it. Find something you look forward to doing. That way you will keep it up long-term. AND it will feed your “happy hormones” into the bargain.
7. Carve out some time (even just 10 minutes or so, but preferably more) every day for you. Stop all the doing and just be for a while. This might involve a relaxing ritual of some kind, like a bath, sitting or walking in a favourite spot, listening to calming music, meditating, contemplating, praying… Whatever feeds your inner you. This is powerful medicine.
8. Realise that grabbing 10 minutes “me time” here and there could stop you getting sicker but it is not enough to heal a chronic illness. Especially if you are the sort of person who feels guilty about taking time out. Making room in your daily life for relaxation, recreation and relationships is a duty you owe yourself and your loved ones. It is at least as health-giving as eating good food and getting enough sleep.
9. To combat mental stress (which affects us all) consider going one step further and take up a stress-busting therapy. Anything from painting to tai chi can do the trick. Keeping a “gratitude journal” is also a simple and potent way to maintain your mental balance and perspective. (See Gratitude is the best medicine.) And make every reasonable effort to stay clear of physical trauma as well as mental trauma, recognising that cuts and abrasions are a risk factor for vitiligo. So treat your body and mind with kindness and care.
10. If you know your current diet is not helping your health, work on improving it. But, instead of trying to correct everything all at once, why not just focus on reducing or removing one “bad” food at a time and replacing it with one that is wholesome? (Aiming for an AIP style of eating would be my recommendation since vitiligo is an autoimmune condition.) You stand a better chance of making real progress taking a gradual approach to eating well than if you expect to achieve dietary perfection overnight.

Is a holistic approach to vitiligo the whole solution?

To think that everyone could totally cure their vitiligo by following the simple guidelines I have listed above would obviously be naïve. After all, most of them are just the same familiar, common-sense rules for healthy living that most parents try to teach their children. They are the stuff of self-help books, the currency of fitness instructors and life coaches. They are the rules we all know we should follow but hardly any of us do. Most of us “try to be good” and succeed to some extent, some of the time. And for the majority of people that seems to be enough.

If you have no genetic predisposition to any particular disease and your general health is robust you can probably get away with all sorts of diet and lifestyle “sins” for a long time before they start to catch up with you in the form of chronic health issues. But common sense and real-life experience show that this is not true if you have an underlying condition to start with.

So my aim in highlighting these holistic guidelines for good health in relation to vitiligo is not to say that following them will cure your white spots overnight. It is to point out that ignoring them on an ongoing basis will only perpetuate long-term, low-grade inflammation throughout your whole system, making your condition worse… Which can only continue to prevent your body from starting any healing process. Whereas, on the other more positive side of the coin, adopting a holistically healthy lifestyle can and does help to reverse disease, allowing the natural process of repair to occur. In a nutshell, what I am saying is…

First, do no harm… Then do as much good as you can

As the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates famously wrote: “first, do no harm”. This is the basis of modern medicine, as well as one half of a holistic approach to vitiligo that I have tried to describe here. The other half is “do as much good as you can”. It sounds simple, and it is.

In my opinion, we underestimate the power of the human body and mind to heal itself (given the right conditions). And, unfortunately, western medicine tends to ignore this power in favour of playing whack-a-mole by hitting one symptom at a time with drugs. What if we were simply to minimise the risk factors in our daily life at the same time as optimising all the beneficial, therapeutic and health-enhancing influences we possibly could? We would give ourselves the best possible chance of recovery… maybe without any pharmaceutical intervention at all. And, if that is not possible for everyone, then at least would be in a much better position to benefit from new treatments that come along because we would be starting from a position of strength.