Last Updated on 13th May 2025 by Caroline Haye
Weighing up the pros and cons
Not everyone loves their white patches. More power to you if you do; I sincerely admire you. But, speaking as one who never came to terms with mine, I completely understand if you prefer to hide your vitiligo. After all, there are a lot of effective ways to conceal the fact that your skin tone is not perfectly uniform. So we all have a choice. In fact, I experimented with most of them in my time. And even those I never tried myself, I still seriously considered at one point or another. So it’s fair to say that I have given this subject a lot of thought and practical application over the years.
Of course, the most extreme method of concealment would be to hide yourself away from other people completely. But becoming a recluse is not good for your mental health. I tried it, to varying degrees, and I don’t recommend it. So I won’t mention it again.
A more realistic technique is to cover up your vitiligo with clothing. This is certainly one of the quickest and simplest ways. And then, of course, there are more sophisticated solutions like makeup, camouflage products, self-tans and tattoos… All of which offer excellent coverage for depigmented areas of skin. But, alongside their benefits, they each come with their own drawbacks… Almost as if for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. And being aware of this law of vitiligo physics – if you want to call it that – might help you to weigh up their respective pros and cons for yourself.
Hiding your vitiligo with clothing
PROS
Using garments to hide your vitiligo is literally as fast and convenient as getting dressed. Just as long as you have chosen items that cover the right parts of your skin your job is done. So you may think that there are very few drawbacks to this approach. But, believe it or not, there are some important considerations to bear in mind when masking your vitiligo with clothing
CONS
Depending on how widespread your pigment loss is and where your patches are located, finding exactly the right garments to cover every affected area can be tricky. And, of course, an added complication is that you may need to remove layers so that you don’t find yourself sweltering in warm temperatures. In addition, you should select styles and fabrics with care if you want to minimise the risk of contact depigmentation. For example, tight fitting items can cause koebnerisation of the skin. Not to mention the fact that scratchy garment labels can aggravate vitiligo too, so these should be removed. And, last but not least, certain synthetic fabrics and those with non-safe dyes or special finishes actually have the potential to induce chemical vitiligo.
Covering vitiligo with makeup
PROS
Makeup can be extremely effective in camouflaging vitiligo. And, since makeup application is part of everyday life for many of us anyway, it isn’t necessarily much of an additional inconvenience. In fact, I think it is one of the best ways there is to boost your confidence. Plus, it can be artistically creative, expressive and great fun into the bargain.
CONS
On the down side, applying makeup takes time and a certain amount of skill. Plus you need to find the right products to start with. And, depending on your natural skin tone, colour matching can be a real pain. Not only that, but many cosmetics are packed with perfumes and other chemical ingredients that may aggravate vitiligo. So it pays to do your homework before you invest too much money into a vitiligo-friendly makeup bag. And finally, of course, makeup is really only suitable for use on the face – which may or may not be where your white patches are located. And that brings us neatly on to…
Skin camlouflage for vitiligo
PROS
Specialist camouflage can make your white patches disappear, allowing you to forget about them and feel more confident and carefree. Good camouflage products can be blended to match your skin colour exactly and can also provide reliable transfer-resistant and waterproof coverage.
CONS
As with makeup, applying camouflage products is fiddly, time-consuming and can be messy. It definitely takes practice to master the art of concealing your white patches and blending them in to match your natural skin pigment. And, again, success depends on finding the right colour match, texture and ingredients for your needs. Also, as with makeup, it is a strictly temporary solution because it needs re-applying each day. No doubt, this is why some people opt instead for…
Self-tanning products for concealing vitiligo
PROS
The main benefit of a self-tanner is that it lasts longer than either makeup or camouflage creams. So, once you have applied it successfully, you can more or less forget about it for a few days instead of washing it off and re-applying daily. And, in theory at least, you can shower or bathe as usual or go swimming and simply top it up when it starts to wear off.
CONS
In reality, matching a self-tan to your natural skin tone can be really difficult. If you only use it on your depigmented areas it is almost impossible to create the same shade and opacity as the surrounding skin. And, more often than not, you end up with either white gaps or dark rims around the outer edges of your lesions. (Where the tanning product finishes and your own pigment starts.) An all-over application, on the other hand, may be less fiddly. But it doesn’t tend to achieve a uniform result because the contrast between your pigmented and unpigmented skin still remains visible. And this becomes more of a problem the darker your normal skin is.
In addition to these challenges many tanning products are too orange or streaky once they develop. And, because they are semi-permanent, this is hard to rectify. Most are also rather smelly (yes – even now). Even after they have dried and you have washed your skin, there may still be a residual odour. And those products that don’t smell bad contain perfume in addition to the chemical ingredients that create the tan effect. So regular contact with those ingredients inevitably carries a risk of irritation and chemical depigmentation. Self tans can also be hard to maintain because they don’t always wear off evenly. Meaning that subsequent applications become more and more uneven… which kind of defeats the original purpose. Not only that, but the resultant colour can rub or sweat off your skin onto clothing and bedding, causing stains.
Tattoos on your white patches
PROS
Tattoos can be fun, fashionable and potentially effective at masking vitiligo. You can even play around with incorporating your patches into the design. Plus they have the benefit of being permanent. (Unless you use transfers, of course, which is another option.) However…
CONS
The main drawback to tattoos is the physical trauma they inflict on the skin. Whilst this does not pose much of a risk to most people, it is a significant one for individuals with sensitive skin or a predisposition to vitiligo. The tattooing process can trigger a Koebner response and aggravate the very condition you want to hide. The ink used may also be a risk factor in aggravating any skin condition. And, once you start covering vitiligo with tattoos, you may well find yourself having to get more and more of them as your depigmentation spreads. In addition to these very real disadvantages, tattoos will not always be in fashion. So permanence might be a double edged sword. And, if you subsequently decide to have them removed, the process may be painful and only partially successful, whilst subjecting your skin to further trauma.
So what is the best way to hide your vitiligo?
Unsurprisingly, there is no simple answer to this question. Suffice it to say that there is no perfect way to hide vitiligo. There are multiple options and they all have their pros and cons. Which one to choose on any given occasion will vary according to that occasion and the individual doing the choosing. The good thing is that you don’t have to stick to one method. You can mix and match. Or, of course, decide not to hide your vitiligo at all. (Although I do recommend you at least wear some kind of clothing in public, whether it hides your vitiligo or not!)
As someone who spent a great deal of time, effort and money on keeping my vitiligo a secret (even while it eventually re-pigmented), I now recognise that my end goal was always the same. To feel at ease. Confident and comfortable in my own skin. Ultimately, to be able to forget about my white patches for as long as possible. And to avoid any unwanted attention on the part of other people. If that describes your motivation, then I hope that you have found some of the tips in this post useful and constructive. And I wish you contentment, confidence and a healthy pride in your appearance every day, no matter how you choose to manage your unique and precious skin..
[See also the pitfalls of skin whitening as a way of hiding vitiligo.]
