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Understanding and Addressing Skin White Spots: Causes & Natural Approaches

Melanin gives the skin its characteristic color. When the cells that produce melanin or melanocytes stop functioning or die, white spots appear on the skin. It is really tough to get rid of the white spots once they appear. Generally the normal skin color disappears in blotches and it can affect any part of the body.

Research suggests that vitilgo or white spots on the skin can happen due to chemical reactions, genetic reasons, oxidative stress, neural or viral causes. Sometimes white spots can occur due to a medical condition or it can be autoimmune.

Well don’t lose heart! Vitilgo can be treated if diagnosed at the early stage. First it is important to analyze why vitilgo occurs and what are the common symptoms. Then we can study the natural remedies and other treatment options that can curb vitilgo and cure it completely.

Causes of Vitilgo:

Vitilgo occurs when the melanin forming cells or melanocytes die or stop producing melanin. Melanin is a pigment that gives color to your skin, hair and eyes. So when the melanocytes stop functioning, white patches on the skin appear. The reason behind vitilgo is not known, but some probable causes are:

  • A disorder of the immune system that attack and destroy the melanocytes in the skin.
  • Family history or genetic cause
  • A trigger event like sunburn, stress or exposure to industrial chemicals.

Symptoms of Vitilgo:

Vitilgo can happen at any age but it generally starts before the person turns twenty. The common vitilgo signs include:

  • Skin Discoloration
  • Premature whitening or greying of the hair on your scalp, eyelashes, eyebrows or beard before you turn 35 years of age.
  • Change in the color of retina.
  • Discolored patches in armpits, navel, genitals and rectum.
  • Change in the color of the mucous membranes that line the insides of your mouth and nose.

Depending on the kind of vitilgo you have, the discolored patches may cover:

  • Many Parts of the Body: This is a very common type of vitilgo, also known as generalized vitilgo.
  • Only One Side of the Body: This type of vitilgo is called segmental vitilgo, which occurs at a younger age and progress for a year or two and then stop.
  • One or Only Few Areas of the Body: This is known as the localized or focal vitilgo.

Possible Treatments:

A topical corticosteroid can be applied when the discoloration occurs to re-pigment your skin. This cream is easy to use but have side-effects like skin thinning and some lines can appear on your face. Milder form of this drug can be used on children who are suffering from discoloration. A topical calcipotriene can be used along with corticosteroids or ultraviolet light, but it causes dryness of skin and itching.

Ointments with Tacrolimus and pimecrolimus may be effective for people who have small areas of depigmentation. This treatment has fewer side-effects than corticosteroids and can be used with UVB light. However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has found out a link between these drugs and lymphoma and skin cancer.

Other treatments for vitilgo include photo chemotherapy, light therapy, laser therapy, removing the remaining color or depigmentation using Monobenzone, skin grafting, blister grafting and micro pigmentation. However, these are all chemical and surgical treatments to reduce vitilgo, there are many natural remedies for vitilgo, which you can use to reduce the discoloration of skin.

What are White Spots?

The appearance of a white spot on skin is known as vitiligo. Medically, it is defined as a skin disease caused due to loss of pigmentation and happens due to the melanin component. Allopathic sciences prescribe a number of treatments for this ailment that are invariably painful and expensive! But there are a few natural ways that people could follow instead.

How to Remove White Spots on Skin Naturally?

Vitilgo can affect people from all races, but those with dark skin are susceptible to vitilgo.  The condition is not life threatening or contagious, but it is bound to cause mental stress. Your self-confidence diminishes and you tend to feel embarrassed to go out with the white spots on your face or body.

This chronic problem can affect small areas of skin and then spread to larger areas of the skin. People within the age of 10-30 are prone to vitilgo. In about 30% of the affected people the skin begins to re-pigment naturally if exposed to the Sun.

Here are some tips and natural remedies that can help you to cure vitilgo or white spots. If you follow these tips religiously then you can get back your flawless skin.

[ Read: Home Remedies To Cure White Spots On Lips ]

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