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 […]
Vitiligo Blog
319 posts
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 […]
“I have this under control for now” Last month’s post, How Vitiligo Makes You Feel, featured a variety of individuals sharing their innermost feelings about living with the skin condition. But for this month’s blog I am focussing on just one contributor, who kindly agreed to describe in more detail […]
Your reaction is your own Unlike many of my other blog posts, this one isn’t about vitiligo tips, research or treatments. So it may not feel as upbeat as most. But bear with me. My aim here is simply to highlight the impact that vitiligo has on real people. And […]
An interview with Shankar Jalota Better known online as The Vitiligo Man, Londoner Shankar Jalota has become a familiar face… Both in the vitiligo community, and beyond. He was first diagnosed with the skin disorder at the age of fifteen and battled for years with low confidence and self-esteem, before […]
Get some shots of those spots! Regular visitors to this blog will be familiar with the topics I usually cover. They mainly revolve around the causes of vitiligo, its treatments and the various ways it affects people’s lives. But in this post I want to discuss something a bit different. […]
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 […]
How our modern world is affecting people with vitiligo Not so long ago “mental health” was a term we rarely came across in everyday life and in the media. But for the past several years we have been seeing and hearing it everywhere. Almost annoyingly so, some may say. And […]
Why this is an important question to ask Can a gluten-free diet reverse vitiligo? It’s a question that crops up quite regularly on vitiligo forums… A simple enough one, you would think. And yet, no one seems to have a definite answer or verifiable proof one way or the other. […]
From text books to cook books, fiction to autobiography Whether you prefer to e-read on your device or to feel real pages between your fingers, books are special. They offer a world of education, information, inspiration and entertainment. They have the power to engross and to elevate us to another […]
Taking peer support to a new level When life pulls the rug out from under you, as it sometimes does, what do you do? Do you bottle it up or do you look for help? Bottling it up isn’t a great option, as you will know if you’ve ever tried […]