Insect bites and pigment loss

Last Updated on 25th April 2020 by Caroline Haye

A FLY IN THE VITILIGO OINTMENT

Those of us who live in the north of England have to grab every opportunity to enjoy whatever sunshine we can – whenever we can. The weather pattern here over the past few years has been characterised by pleasantly warm, sunny days in spring and autumn, either side of a massively disappointing summer. So the past few weeks have found me taking every possible moment in the garden, enjoying the last of the warmth for another year. This is a great way of topping up the skin pigment in advance of the long, cold winter months ahead as an ongoing part of my protocol for keeping vitiligo at bay.

There is just one fly in the ointment – well, a lot more than one actually. Because we live close to water and surrounded by trees, we find ourselves plagued by mosquitoes and gnats during this season, clouds of them, humming and swarming around by the thousand, just waiting for the chance to feast on human blood.

These insects are typically the object of much swatting, scratching and cursing. But for anyone with a sensitive skin, they are not merely irksome; they can represent a real health hazard. Fortunately for me, the mosquitoes that frequent our garden are not the sort that carry serious diseases like malaria or dengue fever. However, their bite can still cause significant irritation which is something I try hard to avoid, given my history of vitiligo. If you have vitiligo (or any other inflammatory skin condition) it is important to be aware that physical trauma of any sort to the skin can trigger a flare up, so it makes sense to avoid not just cuts, bruises, abrasions and burns but stings and bites too.  

Are insects attracted to pale skin?

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to attract #insect-bites far more than others? It would be an exaggeration to say that this question has kept me awake at nights but I’ll admit it does intrigue me. Take my mother-in-law (no jokes please) – she always ended up smothered in bites whenever she travelled anywhere that had a significant bug population, even when everyone around her remained virtually unscathed. I used to wonder if this had anything to do with the fact that she had exceptionally pale skin. Then I also noticed that, whenever I was bitten myself, it was nearly always on my #vitiligo patches. Given that I was 80% de-pigmented when my vitiligo was at its height, I suppose there is no major surprise there, statistically speaking. However, even as the number and size of my lesions dwindled, it still seemed to me that any bites I suffered were restricted to these particular hypo-pigmented areas. I even wondered if the almost translucent skin found in vitiligo patches might act like a “shop window” advertising the juicy veins below to every passing mosquito. Whatever the explanation, I was convinced there must be something about very pale skin that is irresistible to these blood-sucking critters.

Well, to my surprise, my best efforts at finding a scientific basis for this perception came up with no hard evidence at all. Whilst no one knows definitively why some people are more attractive to blood-sucking insects than others, there are a number of reasonably well established theories but none of them suggests that pale skin plays any part. It seems that the tastiest people, as far as mosquitoes are concerned, are those with type O blood, those who sweat or breathe more heavily than others, pregnant women and anyone who has a raised body temperature or has recently consumed alcohol.

Genetics are thought to be a factor, meaning that susceptibility probably runs in families, but there is very little evidence that colour plays a role, except that mosquitoes are apparently more likely to bite you if you are wearing dark coloured clothing. If this is true – and if it holds true for dark skin, as well as dark clothing – that would seem to fly (no pun intended) in the face of my own observations… unless, of course, bugs really do prefer fair-skinned victims and dark clothing simply serves to make human skin look paler by comparison(?).

Perhaps my perception is due to the fact that bite marks just look more conspicuous on fair skin than they do on darker complexions. It is certainly true that sensitive skins react more severely to insect bites, producing larger, angrier-looking welts and more histamine, resulting in more itching and inflammation and this is the last thing you need if you suffer from vitiligo, especially as scratching can lead to further de-pigmentation.

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Choosing a safe and effective bug repellent

​Insect repellents containing DEET are generally thought to provide the most reliable protection but the chemical ingredients contained in these products can prove to be just as inflammatory to vitiligo sufferers as being bitten. So the burning question is: are there any natural alternatives that actually work?

Some people claim that garlic is equally loathed by these tiny vampires as by their mythical cousins. But I suspect that gobbling massive quantities of this malodorous condiment, or rubbing it on one’s skin, would succeed in keeping more than just the insect population at arm’s length.

Some people maintain that vitamin B12 wards off mosquitoes but others claim that this theory has been discredited. (Although, if there were some truth in this, would the fact that most vitiligo sufferers are deficient in B12 offer an explanation as to why insects seem to favour de-pigmented skin? Maybe.)

Neem oil is significantly effective at repelling bugs but has a very strange odour if used in suitably high concentrations.  This can mean that the more repulsive bugs find it, the more repulsive we humans find it too!  Mixing it at a ratio of 1:10 with coconut oil makes it less pungent but this reduces its effectiveness and it can be a bit messy to concoct and to apply.

Citronella oil is probably the best known natural insect repellent and is a popular ingredient in outdoor candles for that purpose. However, it does not work as effectively on skin as its non-natural, DEET-based counterparts and it evaporates so quickly that it only offers very short-term protection.  Worse still, it is a known skin sensitiser that can cause allergic reactions.

Citriodiol, on the other hand, appears to tick all the boxes. Also known as Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus, Citriodiol is a natural ingredient that has been proven to be just as effective at repelling insects as the best-performing DEET products, as well as being safe for use on children as young as 6.  And, whilst  it causes bugs to hold their nose and run for cover, it actually has a rather pleasant menthol smell, meaning it is unlikely to result in anyone of the human variety having to do the same.