I have included as much detailed information as possible on this website so as to make it as helpful as I can. The downside of this is that reading through the whole lot could be a bit daunting (and time-consuming). With that in mind, I have added this nutrition summary page, outlining the vitiligo therapy I followed. I hope this will make everything simpler to follow.
Treatment Overview
1) The nutritional supplements
(i.e. the ones that were the most directly responsible for my recovery):
- 2 x capsules of Xenca Boost twice a day (one dose before breakfast and the other before my evening meal).
- 2 x Five a Day+V doses a day, or 3 whenever I could remember. (One dose is a sachet of powder or 5 – 8 capsules if preferred).
- 1 x daily dose (one stick or one teaspoon of powder or 3 capsules) of Collagen (any time of day).
2) Regular sun or UV exposure
- A moderate amount of sun exposure during the summer (enough to turn white skin slightly pink without burning) approx. 3 x weekly OR
- Narrowband UVB therapy 3 x weekly
3) Sensible diet
For me, at the time, this was simply avoiding refined sugar and processed foods as far as possible. (More on this subject in the two sections below.)
More detail
For more detail on the summary above, please read on…
Supplements
Details and ingredient listings for all the supplements are listed on The Vitiligo Therapy That Worked page.
Regular sun or UV exposure
Sunshine or UV therapy was a significant part of the equation. Initially I sat out several times a week during the Spring and Summer months for anything from 20 minutes to an hour… Depending on the strength of the sun. The majority of my re-pigmentation was well underway by the time winter came. At that point I swapped to narrowband UVB and continued with the supplements the whole time. After 12 months or so hardly any sign of my vitiligo remained. (Just a few mottled areas on hands, feet and one shin).
Sensible diet
I have never eaten an unhealthy diet. And I have always avoided refined sugar and processed foods as much as possible. But the fact is that I did not follow any particular diet during my re-pigmentation. Taking Five a Day+ almost certainly compensated for any shortcomings in my food choices. However, I now believe that avoiding gluten would probably have helped. And that eating a paleo diet, or even a stricter autoimmune one can help many people with vitiligo.
How and why I believe this protocol worked so well
I am not a scientist. So all I have to base my conclusions on is my own personal experience… And several years of reading everything I can find on the subject of vitiligo. I have organised my conclusions below under the same headings as the two previous sections.
1) The supplements
Boost
The original purpose of this product was never to treat vitiligo. But it does contain the most important nutrients in the natural tanning process. L-Tyrosine, for example, is the amino acid that converts into melanin in the body. Tyrosine activity in vitiliginous skin is much less than in normal skin, even though melanocytes (melanin-forming cells) are present. The inclusion of this amino acid in Boost may be one of many reasons why it can stimulate new pigment.
Similarly, you will find that each of the other ingredients in Boost appears in the available vitiligo research data… And that each one plays a part in the process of making pigment. (A session googling each one in turn will demonstrate this, if you enjoy doing research.)
My conclusion as to why Boost works so well for me is this… That it provides my body with certain nutrients that I lack (probably due to my chronic digestive problems). And that these nutrients are crucial to the process of producing healthy pigment.
Five a Day+V
The general health benefits of consuming chlorophyll-rich, alkalising foods that are rich in antioxidants are clear. (A quick internet search will confirm this, if you are in any doubt.) But research also shows that vitiligo sufferers are in greater need of antioxidants and enzymes than other people.
This is because vitiliginous skin accumulates abnormally high levels of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). So therefore suffers much greater free radical damage than normal skin. Many scientists working in vitiligo research believe this to be a key mechanism in the loss of pigment.
Taking one, or preferably 2 – 3, daily doses of Five a Day+V is a quick, convenient way of getting the general health benefits. As well as the additional free radical protection vitiligo sufferers require in order to give the body a chance to start healing itself.
My digestive problems improved dramatically as I started to take this supplement. And I believe that it helped my gut to heal… Removing a potential cause of my pigment loss.
Collagen
I’ve been aware of the general benefits of collagen supplementation to skin health for a while. And I certainly noticed a big improvement to the texture of my skin, hair and nails within a couple of weeks. But its possible relevance to vitiligo was not something I knew anything about.
Vitiligo research does suggest, however, that collagen damage occurs in vitiligo, possibly due to free radical activity. So it is possible that taking collagen, alongside the other supplements, did in fact contribute to my re-pigmentation.
2) Regular sun or UV exposure
Why did sun exposure help my re-pigmentation instead of making my vitiligo worse? Or simply causing me to burn (as it had always done previously)?
I can only conclude that the nutritional supplements provided my body with what it needed to make healthy pigment… And that sunlight was then able to act as the trigger to that tanning process.
Why was switching to UV therapy during the winter even more successful? Possibly because short doses of narrowband UVB are able to trigger the tanning response faster than sunlight…Before burning can occur.
3) Sensible diet
Luckily for me, I was able to gain nearly all my lost skin colour back. Simply by using the supplements described above in conjunction with regular, moderate UV exposure. However, my reading and personal experience since then has led me to believe that diet can also play a part.
A “clean” diet is likely to be beneficial… One that includes a high proportion of vegetables and avoids all known allergens and inflammatory foods. Especially in cases, like mine, that involve digestive problems.
Final note
Since my own recovery in 2010 I have continued to search for additional vitiligo solutions…Answers to the problems of living with, and treating, vitiligo. During this time I have found additional solutions that can be added to the original protocol.
One worth mentioning here is a gel called Vitix, which has a good track record of stimulating re-pigmentation when used in conjunction with UV exposure, using much the same principle as pseudocatalase.
These, and all the other various products I have researched since, can be obtained from each individual manufacturer direct. But they are also all available now in one place from vitiligostore.com .
I hope you have found this nutritional treatment summary useful. Please feel free to contact me via either of my websites. I am always happy to correspond and to help in any way I can.