The truth about vitiligo

Last Updated on 23rd August 2023 by Caroline Haye

It’s complicated!

The truth about vitiligo can be summed up very simply… It’s complicated! If it wasn’t complicated, research would have found the cause and a cure by now. The fact that even Michael Jackson’s fortune couldn’t buy him a solution says a lot about how elusive this is. Even his untimely death, and the exposure vitiligo received in the wake of it, has not yet resulted in enough interest and investment to produce a satisfactory cure. [Note added August 2023: Happily, this is picking up pace now.] All in all, I think it’s fair to say that vitiligo is a tough nut to crack.   

It’s tempting to think that vitiligo is all about the skin because that’s where the visible changes occur.  But, in my opinion, that is a big mistake. Our skin, of course, is highly visible. It’s the largest organ in the human body. And it’s the only one (except for the eyes) that you can actually see from the outside. (Strange, but true!) 

But I imagine it as the surface of a deep river. Its appearance varies according to what is going on underneath. Below the surface there is a complete eco-system. And the health of each organism there is dependent on the health of the others. “Symptoms” on the surface of a damaged river eco-system might include dead fish and green, stagnant water. Symptoms on the surface of a damaged human eco-system can include dryness, roughness, sores, rashes, pallor, redness and broken veins… And either hyper- (brown spots) or hypo-pigmentation (vitiligo). Whilst the symptoms are plain to see, the exact causes are much more difficult and complex to pin down.

I believe that the reason a dedicated cure for vitiligo is proving to be so elusive is that it is not really a disease. It is a symptom. A symptom of a disturbed internal “eco-system”. Just like a cough or a rash, it can be a sign of other underlying disorders. It is simply one of the ways in which the human body signals that all is not well under the surface. Worse still, once you have it, all sorts of things can increase your susceptibility to further pigment loss.

My vitiligo success story does not represent a universal cure, of course.  Having regained almost all my lost pigment (which, after spreading for 50 years, covered about 80% of my skin) my recovery, thankfully, appears to be permanent. And I am still seeing gradual improvement years later.  But I’m certain that my continued recovery is a matter of management, not cure. I still use the vitiligo therapy that worked for me in the first place. I have, in effect, cured the symptom (the white patches) but not necessarily the underlying cause. 

Some vitiligo sufferers have similar vitiligo success stories to tell after using my nutritional protocol. Others have had positive results from other approaches. And many more have never found anything that works for them. All of which supports the view that the causes of vitiligo are varied and complex. 

But, just because vitiligo is tricky (to say the least) doesn’t mean it’s impossible to treat. Personally, I think that anything you do to improve your overall health is going to reduce the severity of your symptoms… Whether those symptoms are coughs, rashes or white patches.  So it makes sense to feed our body with the sorts of healthy diet that will support a balanced internal eco-system. And, of course, avoid environmental factors that could make your symptoms worse.

I have already written in detail elsewhere on this site about my nutritional therapy. So in my next few blog posts I will look at some of the external and environmental factors that may play a part in vitiligo.  Knowledge is power.  And knowing what can mess up your physiological eco-system can give you power to avoid those things and give yourself a better chance of recovery.