Do You Know What Vitiligo Is?
Today we bring a very special and different publication to all the topics we have shared throughout our creation as Digital Channel, since the evolution of human beings, arose a myriad of diseases and health conditions, today a vast majority of these have cure, treatment or simply a diagnosis, but there are others that only have a name, and today still remain a question for experts. This is the case of Vitiligo, in this post we will know: What is it, what are its symptoms, and also you will know the story of one of our members, which certainly makes us see from another perspective this condition.
What is vitiligo?
Vitiligo is a skin condition that causes white patches to appear on the skin on various parts of the face and body, according to the Vitiligo Research Foundation (VRF). We have cells called Melanocytes, which are in charge of producing Melanin, the one in charge of making our skin and hair pigmented, however these cells start to be attacked by our immune system, and trigger these results. There is still no firm hypothesis about when vitiligo begins to appear in people, however some say before the age of 20 and others after the age of 40, however that is still in doubt, for the different people who have begun to suffer from this disease at the age of 30. Experts consider: That it is more frequent in people who develop Autoimmune Diseases (When our Immunological system attacks the good Cells) or in its due case that it is Hereditary, it could also arise by a situation of stress, which triggers this process in the body. We have to clarify that this disease is not contagious, it simply affects the aesthetics of people who begin to suffer from it, however this plays a fundamental role in the self-esteem of each individual who suffers from it, because there are never lacking the maladjusted beings who judge, who point, or make fun, but do not think before acting or speaking.
In Virtual Variety, we started to investigate if this disease arose in modern centuries, but we were surprised to learn that since Ancient Greece, several people already suffered from it, including the Father of Medicine and Medical Ethics, Hippocrates of Cos, was one of the first to refer that if the disease is treated immediately it can have an effect, but if it is treated years later, the solution will be in vain. In many parts of the world, cases of Vitiligo began to appear, in Ancient Egypt, some places in Asia and also in the Middle East, however it caused quite an impact, because of the changes that occurred in the skin of those people, some were excluded, others were confined, for fear of contagion, even in the Middle Ages, they considered all those people with skin disease, as possible "Lepers" and were locked up with those who suffered from "Leprosy". The possible creator of the word Vitiligo was the Roman Writer and Physician Aurelius Cornelius Celsius, in his book of Medicine published in the first century A.D. But this is still in doubt, because he mentions this word in his writings, but it is not explained as we read, how these words arose, we only know that there are several hypotheses, the most used at that time, in Latin vitiligo is written as "Vitium", that is equal to: "Stain, Imperfection or Defect".
What are your symptoms?
The symptoms cannot go unnoticed, because they start visibly in certain areas of the body:
Loss of color in the mucous membrane, in the mouth, nose and around the eyes.
Loss of color in the hair, eyebrows, eyelashes and beard, these areas begin to suffer a possible white or in some cases gray coloration, in a constant way, until covering a large part of them.
Loss of skin color, in an irregular manner, in some cases the depigmentation begins, creating strange shapes in certain parts of the body, however, the first symptoms appear reflected in the face and genitals, then it can spread throughout the body, or remain static in specific areas, without further progress.
It should be noted readers, that this disease has no cure, possible treatments yes, but none guarantees to be effective and recover the lost pigmentation, according to experts this disease affects between 1% and 2% of the world's population. However, it is closely linked to self-esteem, many of those who suffer from it, begin to isolate themselves from the world, for fear of ridicule, for fear of being judged, singled out, or excluded for having this condition, we want to think that being in such an "advanced" century, this has diminished, we are more aware of the differences, and we accept them, sometimes we have to put ourselves in the shoes of others, and see that it is not easy to deal with this, or any disease, today we do not want to end this post, without telling the story of our collaborator, Professor Aurora Evora, who suffers from this disease, for more than 20 years, today we tell her story:
It is a pleasure to greet you, through this channel; once again I thank the friends of Virtual Variety; for giving me the opportunity to give voice and image to this interesting subject and that many people may not know some details. Having made the above considerations, I think it is important to point out that the theories regarding vitiligo made by the medical experts, I accept and share them because I speak from my own experience, for example when doctors point out the factors that may have triggered the disease; specifically, hereditary factors, in my case I do not remember any family member with the disease, suddenly my ancestors in fact I have Trinidadian descent, or Afro-descendant on my mother's side, my father was from Spain, I did not know my direct relatives on his side. With respect to age, they indicate before the age of twenty; in my case it manifests itself at thirty-two years of age, as for biological factors; I had blood tests to rule out thyroid problems, the results were negative.
However, I attribute this condition to emotional causes, framed in a situation of stress due to events that happened to me. As I pointed out in the previous segment, I began to suffer from it when I was thirty-two years old. When I was pregnant, specifically I was three months pregnant, I lost important documents, belongings and clothes because of the floods of that year (December 1996), in the area where I lived; then the following year, in May my grandmother died, then in June my sister suffered a serious traffic accident in which she lost her life. This situation brought forward my delivery which was scheduled for the thirtieth of June, she died on the twenty-sixth and I gave birth on the twenty-seventh. As you can see this chain of tragic events, triggered the disease, because it was only a matter of hours when I began to depigment began by the corners of the lips and two spots one on my right cheekbone and one on the chin.
I went to the specialist in dermatology, as I explained before I underwent all the necessary tests, including the biopsy. In fact my son is now twenty-three years old, and thank God I did not inherit it, I am fifty-five years old, I only have unpigmented hands and some parts of the face; which I learned to camouflage with high coverage waterproof makeup, combined with foundations. The Dermatologist asked me if I felt any complex about the disease; I honestly never saw it that way even people stare at me and ask if the spots are because I suffered burns, I explain to them what it is about. At no time have I felt different or excluded for having it, thank God it is benign and not contagious. This disease has not limited me in my work activities, and everything I have proposed I have materialized, I enjoy every day that God and the Universe give me to continue acquiring new learning and sharing knowledge.
In fact and to finish; I think that no disease similar to this should put limits to the dreams of every human being; although I have met people who suffer from vitiligo and it has affected their self-esteem; I tell them to please thank God for developing this disease and not a terminal one. We must be content with what life has destined for each one of us.
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Written Sources
This text was translated from Spanish to English thanks to the translator Deepl.
