With no harmful side effects How do you react when someone makes a statement that you find hard to believe? A statement that sounds utterly ridiculous, irrational or unlikely like, for example, “Laughter could improve your vitiligo.” You might (rather fittingly) respond by saying “You’re the one having a laugh, […]
Vitiligo Blog
307 posts
Pigment and personality From the moment we are born, life’s experiences start to mould us. We inherit certain character traits from our parents, of course. But, after that, external events and influences begin to have a cumulative effect on the people we become. We are not always conscious of this […]
What is it and why do most specialists prefer it? If you stay abreast of the medical literature you may have heard of combination therapy for vitiligo (sometimes called polytherapy). Most experts seem to agree that this approach is more effective than using just one type of treatment in isolation […]
If, like me, you are always keen to learn as much about vitiligo as you possibly can, you will have done a lot of research and collected a wealth of medical, personal and general information on the subject. And, in the course of your reading, you may have come across […]
Pigment loss and vision I was just a toddler when my vitiligo started. My parents had no idea what the small white patches were that appeared on my skin for no apparent reason. The tiny areas of discolouration on my spine and ankle bone were mysterious, to be sure. But […]
Spoiler alert: NO, but here’s why some people might ask Some bloggers like to pose intriguing questions in their titles, then take their readers on an exhaustive tour of the subject, only revealing the answer in the closing paragraph waaaayyy down the bottom of the page. I know I have […]
Why are extremities so prone to depigmentation and so hard to repigment? Vitiligo can occur absolutely anywhere on the body. (Even on the inside.) No area of skin is off limits as far as this pigmentary disorder is concerned, two of the most common sites being the face and the […]
Marketing products AND awareness Advertising is all around us all the time. Each new year – and 2024 will be no exception – advertisers bombard us with hundreds of thousands of advertising messages. They start with the January sales. Then come spring breaks, summer vacations and every imaginable activity and […]
Don’t let anxiety spoil the celebrations From one new year to the next life is full of celebrations. Whether it’s Christmas, Easter, Diwali, Ramadan or Hanukkah, there are always wonderful reasons for people to get together. And that’s before you even factor in birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, graduations, retirements, and all […]
How long is a piece of string? For most of my life vitiligo felt like a problem with no solution. A mystery without an explanation. A question without an answer. Eventually, I was lucky enough to find some answers for myself. And, even if I didn’t succeed in explaining the […]
Ironies and contradictions In part 1 of this article I referred to some of the mysteries and complexities that still surround vitiligo, even after a decade or more of increased awareness and scientific progress. Finding answers to these can feel a lot like searching for one particular pebble on a […]
Part 1: mysteries and complexities Assuming you landed on this page intentionally, you are probably looking for information about vitiligo. And, unless you are completely new to the topic, you will have discovered that any search containing the word vitiligo returns a lot of results. (Well in excess of 60 […]
An organic way to heal For hundreds (if not thousands) of years people with vitiligo have dreamt of being cured. Quite literally dreamt, if I am anything to go by. I remember waking up with that dream still fresh in my mind. It seemed to my half asleep brain that, […]
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 […]
It feels like an impossible dream come true Have you ever had that dream? The one when your vitiligo repigments? You wake up in the morning and, for a few surreal moments, you feel a sense of elation because you believe that your patchy skin has returned to normal and […]
Your doctor can’t listen to your body 24/7. But you can. It takes many decades (a whole lifetime even) to become thoroughly familiar with the peculiar workings of one’s own body. After all, we are not born with an owner’s manual to help us unravel the mysteries of the complex […]
Protecting your hands, face and body from chemical leucoderma If you know anything about vitiligo you will know that it cannot be caught. It is neither infectious nor contagious. Coming into contact with someone who has vitiligo will no more cause your skin to lose pigment than coming into contact […]
Azimuth, by Elayne Griffith How often do you read a really good work of fiction and find that the leading character has vitiligo? Almost never. And how often is that book a sci-fi novel? Never, ever, ever. Until now… Azimuth, by Elayne Griffith, is such a good read that I […]
A personal journey of determination and faith I have featured a number of personal vitiligo stories over recent months, all of them expressed from the viewpoint of the vitiligo sufferers themselves. But, as with many chronic health conditions, vitiligo can have a significant impact, not just on the individuals themselves, […]
Does detox work? And is fasting the way to do it? Following the dietary excesses of the festive season, many of us have been cleaning up our act this month. We may even be going through a detox of some description to kick-start a healthier new year. So, with this […]
How to knock spots off last year’s festive shopping As this is the season for giving and receiving gifts, I decided to see what vitiligo toys and merchandise I could find online that might make great presents for friends and supporters. And I was pleasantly surprised at the choice. (This […]