Signs, symptoms
Vitiligo causes loss of color. Your dermatologist may call this “loss of pigment” or “depigmentation.” We can lose pigment anywhere on our bodies, including our:
- Skin.
- Hair (scalp, eyebrow, eyelash, beard).
- Inside the mouth.
- Genitals.
Most people who get vitiligo lose color on their skin. The affected skin can lighten or turn completely white. Many people do not have any other signs or symptoms; they feel healthy.
A few people say that the skin affected by vitiligo itches or feels painful.
Living with vitiligo can cause other symptoms such as low self-esteem and depression that is hard to beat. This can happen regardless of the amount of color loss or type of vitiligo.
Vitiligo has types and subtypes
If you are diagnosed with vitiligo, your dermatologist may tell you what type and subtype you have.
Types: Today, most doctors recognize two types:
Segmental vitiligo
Also called:
| - Appears on 1 segment of the body, such as a leg, face or arm.
- About half of people lose some hair color, such as on the head, an eyelash or an eyebrow.
- Often begins at an early age.
- Often progresses for a year or so then stops.
|
| Non-segmental vitiligo Also called: - Bilateral vitiligo
- Vitiligo vulgaris
- Generalized vitiligo
| - Most common type.
- Appears on both sides of the body, such as both hands or both knees.
- Often begins on hands, fingertips, wrists, around the eyes or mouth, or on the feet.
- Often begins with rapid loss of skin color, which then stops for a while. Color loss often starts up later. This start-and-stop cycle usually continues throughout a person's lifetime.
- Color loss tends to expand, growing more noticeable and covering a larger area.
|
Images used with permission of Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology
. (J Am Acad Dermatol 2010; 62:945-9).
Subtypes: The subtype tells you how much vitiligo appears on the body. The vitiligo subtypes are:
- Localized: One or a few spots or patches appear, but these are limited to one or a few areas of the body.
- Generalized: Most people develop this subtype, which causes scattered patches on the body.
- Universal: Most pigment is gone. This is rare.
There is no way to predict how much color a person will lose. Color loss can remain unchanged for years. Some people see patches enlarge and new patches appear. On a rare occasion, the skin regains its lost color.
Source: https://www.aad.org
