Last Updated on 5th October 2022 by Caroline Haye
Building hope and community
When I first put my vitiligo success story on the internet in 2010 there were very few websites or blogs around that offered a genuine, personal account of what it is like to have vitiligo… And even fewer that actually offered any hope of recovery. Now, I’m happy to say, more vitiligo sufferers are sharing their experiences and treatment strategies online. And this is a very positive development for a number of reasons. Most important of all is that vitiligo success stories give us hope.
An important benefit of this increase in vitiligo blogs is that it contributes to a sense of community. (See my previous post, A Sense Of Vitiligo Community.) This sense of belonging is especially important because vitiligo is still relatively poorly understood by virtually everyone who is not directly affected by it. (By that I mean the general public, the media and even most of the medical profession.) So it helps enormously to know that there are others around the world who understand how we feel. People who share our hopes, fears and challenges on a daily basis.
But it seems to me that there is another very important benefit in real vitiligo sufferers posting their experiences online. And that is that the more genuine sites, blogs and social media posts there are, the less visibility the charlatans are likely to have.
The reason I mention this is that when I started my story site I felt like a lone voice in the wilderness… Apart from the authority and scientific sites, most of the other results that came up in vitiligo searches were bogus. In fact, most were poorly-disguised attempts at advertising expensive and useless “guaranteed cures”. (These unscrupulous people know who they are so I won’t name names.)
But now you are far more likely to find good, credible sources of information and support. So, by contrast, rogue sites should be pretty easy to spot. If in doubt, beware of any site that promises 100% results or claims to have found either THE cause of vitiligo or THE cure.
Personal success stories
So, in this post I would like to mention some of the personal success stories I have come across recently that have impressed me. Aine Anderson’s story, as reported by The Vitiligo Girl is a good example. Not only is this interview about Aine’s repigmentation inspiring and informative but the photos are great too. Her experiences resonate very strongly with mine. In fact, when I read what she says about her digestive problems and sensitivities and her belief that her vitiligo is an internal issue, I could have believed I was reading about myself!
Other interviews on the same website tell a similar tale. One is with Xichao Mo, the author of My Victory Against Vitiligo. Xichao also points to digestive issues being the root cause of his vitiligo. And he too reversed his pigment loss using a nutritional approach.
Reading about such similar experiences as these reminds me yet again that some of the most knowledgeable people on the subject of vitiligo are not dermatologists. They are the sufferers themselves. Individuals whose prolonged struggle with the condition and patient research and experimentation with self-healing has started to build up a really compelling body of anecdotal evidence.
I find it ironic that every medical doctor I have ever consulted about my vitiligo has dismissed the idea of any link between nutrition and vitiligo. And yet the only long-term success stories I have come across (including my own) all attribute their recovery either wholly or predominantly to nutrition.
I am looking forward to browsing more vitiligo stories during the coming weeks. And I plan to continue with this theme in my next post, so watch this space.
