Vitiligo (safed daag/ white spots/ leukoderma) is NOT a stigma anymore!!!
Individuals with white spots have to undergo great deal in the society. They get hindrances at each step whether it is job, marriage, or a simple social appearance especially when the white spots are present on the face neck or body parts where they can be easily seen.
There are various dogmas associated with vitiligo. Because of lack of awareness some misconceptions about vitiligo prevail in the society which are very difficult to root out. Most of the times it is considered contagious skin disease, or a severe genetic disease which runs in the family, people also think that it cannot be cured at all and it might spread to involve whole body.
It is very important to understand that vitiligo is not a infectious disease which can spread by contact. It is a absence of pigment producing melanin cells in the skin which presents in the form of patches (macules). In 30% of the cases it is familial. It is not always genetic rather genetic predisposition is just one of the factor. Many of the times person with this condition has no family history of vitiligo. There are several factors which together play role for this to occur which are stress, pollutants, radiation exposure, old scar or triggered by injury, food adulteration, immunological disease (diseases in which our body's defense system acts against us) and behind all this the genetic predisposition may play a role. In most of the cases just one factor is not responsible. People need to understand this that it is more like a social stigma and a cosmetic problem rather than a actual disease. Vitiligo can be categorized into stable and unstable. Unstable can be further classified into progressive, and relapsing types on the bases of its pattern of spreading or responsiveness to the medicinal treatment.
Stable vitiligo means if some person has a white spot but it has been of constant shape and size or regressing for years with or without medicinal treatment. Progressive vitiligo is the one which keeps spreading either on the same site where it was before by changing shape or increasing size or start occurring at new sites on the body. The relapsing vitiligo is the type which was stable and later changed into progressive kind maybe due to failure of medicinal treatment. There are also people who have generalized vitiligo which means they have large patchy areas of white spots all over body and mostly the distribution is symmetrical i.e. on the both sides of the body have same places affected.Generalized vitiligo comes under unstable category cause it is known for its relapse and difficult to control. Segmental and focal vitiligo comes under stable type and all over have a better prognosis. Segmental vitiligo is restricted to one-half of the body and does not affect the other side, irrespective of the area involved. Prognosis for segmental vitiligo is better than the generalized vitiligo. On the other hand some people are relatively fortunate to have a small one or two white spots on the body this is call localized or focal vitiligo which has a best prognosis in terms of surgical treatment.
Sometimes the previously normal young adults get new white patches, the trigger could be psychological stress, This kind of mental stress is also the reason for changing of stable vitiligo into the unstable type or is a reason behind failure of medicinal treatment. As it is already known that these patients live a difficult life especially when the white spots can be easily seen or are present on the face. They ought to lose confidence and self-esteem and the highest point of stress is difficulties in matrimonial alliance. Even when vitiligo is not present on the visible locations before marriage people desperately want to get rid of them. Unfortunately in Indian society even educated people are not aware of this condition and see it as a contagious and untouchable disease. These kind of stresses make the situation even more worse.
There are several therapies available for vitiligo. But are those proclaimed therapies really effective? Because these people who have already undergone a lot because of their condition are very desperate to get treated and are vulnerable to quacks who promise 100% cure of the condition and as a result these people end up getting bad scars and burn marks without any relief. This is very unfortunate and distressing. It is always best to study well about your condition before taking any decision. The Ayurvedic treatment offers a remedy which when applied form blisters and later with sun exposure it leaves a ugly scar to make it match with the normal surrounding skin. This process is not acting on replacing the melanin cells in the vitiliginous area but blistering it to leave a scar. Guys! please be aware that I also like Ayurveda for many things but you cannot find all the solutions in Ayurveda.
The allopathic medicines are immunosuppressive drugs which are good to stabilize the progressive kind of vitiligo. They promote regression of vitiliginous area in some cases upto 50%, in some pigment returns completely and in rest the results are inconsistent. These medications have there own down side they can make the vitiligo stable or even regress it but the results are not consistent. In some people it works but in majority the response is limited. Not only this they have strong effect on your immune system and make you prone to several infections and can even lead to bone marrow suppression on long term use. So the thing is that they are good for short period of time but its really not fun to take it forever. In generalized vitiligo 5 years of immunosupresssive therapy is recommended since it lowers the chances of relapse after surgical treatment.The other supportive treatment like sun light exposure and phototherapy by PUVA exposure sounds lucrative but has failed to give results so far.
Dr. Devendra K. Gupta (Plastic Surgeon), "Microskin Grafting surgical technique for the cure of stable Vitiligo and recovery of melanin cells in unstable vitiligo to the greatest extent!
Lets get to the good part! Segmental, Focal Vitiligo can be cured! If your vitiligo has been stable for an year which means if the vitiligo area hasn't changed in shape and size then you are the right candidate to get a "microskin grafting surgery for vitiligo". This is a new technique in the market invented by Dr. Devendra K. Gupta (plastic surgeon) which has proven to be a bulls-eye in case of vitiligo control. He is a single-author of the book "Microskin Grafting for Vitiligo" which has been published by a renowned European publisher Springer Verlag UK. Just so you know it is very rare get published as a single author. He has also been published widely in various international journals for his innovative techniques. That aside, as I have already mentioned above in the article that immunosupressive drugs can make the vitiligo stable or even regress it but the results are inconsistent. You can never be sure if it will work for you or not. Microskin graft is the technique which replaces melanin cells back in the white spot area by particle skin auto-grafts i.e. by transplanting your own skin cells from other site to the vitiligenous area. Do not worry! you do not lose color on the donor site!
Prognosis for a vitiligo when treated surgically:
-Focal vitiligo is one or two white spots limited to one side of the body has a very good prognosis.
-Segmental Vitiligo which means vitiligo restricted to one-half if the body (not affecting the other side) when stable for 1 year on medications irrespective of the area affected also has a goog prognosis.
-Generalized vitiligo which is present on both halves of the body can also be controlled to greatest extent by this technique but there is a risk of relapse. But if these patients are on immunosuppressive therapy for 5 years, the chances of relapse are relatively low.
Even this auto-skin-grafts has a long history of failures for example, blister grafts is one of the auto-skin-graft transplant technique which leave ugly blister patches behind giving a tray pattern pigmentation which seems to have occurred because of an accident. It is like previously you had a white spot but now after blister graft you can say that you don't have a white spot but you had an accident!. Yes it seems funny but people who undergo this have no relief trust me! They go back for surgeries again and again. Not only this is harassing it also puts strain on their pocket. There are many such outdated techniques available in the market which are still commonly used by the surgeons or at times the doctors are amateur and you do not want to become their guinea pig.
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