<p>hi,</p>
<p>I was wondering if anyone has or knows someone who has vitiligo (skin disease that results in loss of skin pigmentation). My pediatrician believes that I have vitiligo and I am going to see a specialist just to be sure. Does anyone know how this could affect my life? I really don’t know how to react because I’ve never known anyone how had this.</p>
<p>i feel like crap…seeing my body change is hell. i don’t know why i’m posting here on a college website but i don’t know what to do. i’m going to go crazy. nothing seems worth living for anymore.i’m going to be a social outcast for the rest of my life. no one’s goign to want to look at me. oh my god.</p>
<p>OK. You need to stop thinking about this right now. You posted an hour and a half ago not knowing whether you have it, and you’ve already nailed yourself as a social outcast. Take a deep breath. I don’t know anything about this disease. I do know that if you’re searching on google right now to see how this affected people’s lives, STOP. You will only find the people who have struggled the most, which will give you a very lopsided picture. Try to be patient until you see a specialist, and if you do have this, talk to the doctor about any options for treatment or support. You can talk to the doctor about your concerns and ask about how people live with these disease. You can ask your doctor whether there is a support group you could join. Talk to your parents about your concerns. Try to relax. Life goes on; it always does. It’s not worth spending it miserable.</p>
<p>I hope you’re not joking, but one of my sons (age 11) has vitiligo. He’s had it about 6 years. He has white streaks and spots in his hair and a few spots on his skin (on his back, so not visible). It is mostly a cosmetic problem. His has stayed the same since he first got it–it has not gotten worse and spread all over his body. It depends on your coloring–obviously if you have dark hair or skin it will be more visible. Coloring your hair or using makeup could be options. Sunscreen is a must to protect unpigmented areas. My son gets annoyed that everyone asks him about his hair (“What did you do to your hair!?” “Is that NATURAL?!” etc.) Sometimes he tells other kids that it is contagious. . . He’s sort of famous at his school because everyone knows him by his white hair–and I think he likes it because it is unique. </p>
<p>Don’t despair. Lots of people have it.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses,</p>
<p>I know I’m overreacting to an extent but I have it for sure. There are actually white spots spreading over my body. I’m in high school right now and everyone is incredibly hostile towards people who are “different”. I was shocked at how much people made fun of a girl with a mole on her face. I cannot even imagine what the reaction will be if I’m half white and half brown. Does anyone think that home schooling for the next 2 years would be a better option than going to a high school? Part of the reason I’m freaking out is that I have seen people with vitiligo and imagining myself looking like that in a few years really freaks me out. There’s no cure to this which is even more depressing…</p>
<p>Folic acid and vitamin B12 in vitiligo: a nutritional approach.Montes LF, Diaz ML, Lajous J, Garcia NJ.
Department of Dermatology, University of Alabama, Birmingham Medical Center.</p>
<p>When compared with the normal population, patients with vitiligo often showed diminished blood levels of folic acid. In a group of fifteen patients with vitiligo, folic acid levels were below normal in the serum of eleven patients, in the whole blood of five patients, and in the erythrocytes of six patients. Vitamin B12 serum levels were below normal in five of the fifteen patients. Ascorbic acid plasma levels were also lowered in four of the patients. In eight patients prolonged oral administration of folic acid with simultaneous parenteral treatment with vitamin B12 and oral ascorbic acid was followed by definite repigmentation without side effects.</p>
<p>PMID: 1516378 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]</p>
<p>The trick with high school is to act cool, confident, relaxed, and light hearted. If you do that, people won’t bother you. If you act very self-conscious or fearful, people will react in a different way than if you act in a way that seems comfortable and confident. It depends on your personality. Some people would get along best with honest humor, others by ignoring it, and others by something else entirely. Think about it.</p>
<p>" When compared with the normal population, patients with vitiligo often showed diminished blood levels of folic acid. In a group of fifteen patients with vitiligo, folic acid levels were below normal in the serum of eleven patients, in the whole blood of five patients, and in the erythrocytes of six patients. Vitamin B12 serum levels were below normal in five of the fifteen patients. Ascorbic acid plasma levels were also lowered in four of the patients. In eight patients prolonged oral administration of folic acid with simultaneous parenteral treatment with vitamin B12 and oral ascorbic acid was followed by definite repigmentation without side effects."</p>
<p>-I don’t think this is my problem. I’ve been taking multivitamin supplements since I was born and I make sure I am getting the right amount of vitamins.</p>
<p>-How should I tell people about this? Should I act as if there is nothing really wrong and try to ignore all the stares?</p>
<p>My son was homeschooled for several years (not because of vitiligo), and when he went to school I wondered if he’d get teased. He didn’t. I would hope that high school students are more mature than elementary students.</p>
<p>Realize that people are curious and want to know WHY you look different, so just explain it as a matter of fact. You don’t really know how you’ll look in a couple years. It may not get that bad. Is it on your face? Remember, this is not going to affect your academic ability, cause you physical pain, etc.
Be thankful it is just cosmetic. People will still love you for who you are–even if you have white spots on your hair or skin.</p>
<p>I hadn’t heard about the folic acid connection. I think my son’s vitiligo had some connection with the chicken pox virus he had when he was 5–some sort of autoimmune response?</p>
<p><<hugs>> honey. That’s hard to hear at any age, let alone in the high school years. I’ve known a lot of people ove the years with this. They were married, had children, lived an ordinary life. That will be in your future (if you want.) </hugs></p>
<p>You might have a blood test to check your levels of the vitamins mentioned by samiamy. Just because you’ve been taking a multi doesn’t mean your body is absorbing the nutrients…if your vitamin even has those. Some everyday vitamins don’t have a lot of folic acid which is why March of Dimes recommends women in childbearing years take an extra supplement (it has been seen that birth defects occur much less frequently in the children of women who take folic acid before conception.) Furthermore, some vitamins are not absorbed if taken in conjunction with certain other substances…the grapefruit juice effect has been studied quite a bit. Taking vitamins or medications with grapefruit juice can lessen their effectiveness by tremendous amounts. </p>
<p>My daughter has a large pale birthmark that spreads like smoke over her back and shoulder and down her arm. It is quite definitely a different color from the rest of her and is not small and brown like most birthmarks. When she is with a new group of kids – swimming, wearing a spaghetti strap top – she gets comments and looks. She turns it off with a smile and a shrug and soon, since they’re not getting anything back, they forget about it and accept her for who she is. I tell her that plenty of people are ‘perfect’ on the outside and have small and shriveled souls. Work on perfecting your inside and nothing on the outside will matter. Eleanor Roosevelt was no beauty queen!</p>
<p>If you can turn it into a joke somehow you’ll be much better off. What I mean is, you need to be the first to bring it up and kid around about it a bit, that’ll show confidence and you’ll get teased about it less (and the teasing will be more light hearted) if you show people you don’t care.</p>
<p>Michael Jackson</p>
<p>i know he has it and I don’t want to look like him :-(</p>
<p>Skip the plastic surgery. Otherwise, he would look fine.</p>
<p>no he wouldn’t he would have big patches of white skin on top of his naturally black. he took medicine to get rid of all pigment in his skin and if he didn’t do the plastic surgery he would have looked even weirder.</p>
<p>dude, I know how you feel. I have vitiligo also. When I first saw the signs, white patches all over my body, I freaked out. I couldn’t do any work for weeks, I was having panic attacks, and I was crying a lot. Right now I have tons of white spots on top of my naturally brown skin. I’m not going to lie to you, it feels horrible. You can’t let this rule your life. I look really weird and the disease gets worse everyday but I still hold my head up high. There are ways to treat this. You can use make up and other types of cover up. Also, there are lots of types of medicine your dermatologist can talk to you about. I’m debating doing what Michael Jackson did, turning all of my skin white. This really isn’t that bad. Every time I feel depressed and scared, I just remind myself that at least this is only cosmetic. There are people who have suffered way more than I have. Think about the people who have cancer, HIV/AIDS, etc. </p>
<p>Good luck man, I hope you get better.</p>
<p>My s has vitiligo too. He has had it for a long time and accepts it. People used to ask what it was and he would give different answers depending on who did the asking and what their purpose was in asking. He is very comfortable with it now and actually, recently after many years, we have seen some repigmenting occuring. </p>
<p>It is much more noticable when he is tan and he is tan a lot because he goes to a warm weather school. He is Ok with it. It’s important to use sunscreen.</p>
<p>Where is yours occuring? My s has it on his arm and shoulder. It seems to have begun when he was young and broke his arm…maybe the trauma of the break and the x-rays caused it. We don’t really know. It spread a bit from arm to shoulder and stopped.</p>
<p>Some repigmenting? that’s good to hear. Mine started around my lips and eyes and spread to my elbows and knees. I have it on my back and feet also. It seems to be spreading everywhere however :-(.</p>
<p>My mother has it. She was diagnosed with it when I was just out of high school many years ago. Initially, she was very depressed about it. She has learned to accept it and it’s really something she never brings up. It’s just something that is her norm. She lost pigmentation on her arms, chest, hands, face, etc. I know she can’t be out in the sun much. Honestly, as much as my mother complains about EVERYTHING, this is something she doesn’t complain about.</p>
<p>You’re in my thoughts. Hold your head high and if anyone has an issue with something you cannot help, that is THEIR problem!</p>
<p>It’s so hard though. I’m a teenage boy, I’m supposed to be able to find a date to prom. I don’t think that’s ever going to happen. Dermatologist says very low chances of repigmenting. Anyway, thanks everyone for the kind words and advice.</p>