One of the methods through which doctors can confirm the vitiligo diagnosis is by using the Woods Lamp (black light). This equipment emits ultraviolet light on a wavelength of 365 nanometers, making a vitiligo patient's skin glow yellow green or blue. In contrast, the healhy skin will have no reaction to the UV light. It is used to detect several skin conditions including fungal and bacterial infections and skin coloring changes such as vitiligo. The Woods Lamp test must be conducted in a dark room and the skin area being examined must not be contaminated with any agents (eg. topical medication, soap, deodorant or makeup). This means washing your hands just before the exam might yield a false positive result. The health care provider will take several precautions such as advising you not to look directly in the ultraviolet light or providing you protective goggles when examining the face. The Woods Lamp examination holds no risk and you won't feel anything during the procedure. The Woods Lamp emits ultraviolet light on a wavelength of 365 nanometers and was invented by Robert Williams Wood in 1903. Initially, black light was produced with a special glass and was used in communications. This test reveal different colors according to the type of skin disease, which may include:

Hydrogen Peroxide is simply a water molecule (H20) with one extra oxygen molecule. Hydrogen peroxide is one of the most powerful oxidizers known - stronger than chlorine, chlorine dioxide, and potassium permanganate. Link to vitiligo: High hydrogen peroxide have been shown to cause depigmentation of skin in several studies [1] and increased sensitivity to external hydrogen peroxide(H2O2) was observed in normal pigment cells under in vitro conditions.[2] Uses: H2O2 is used as an antiseptic, mouthwash, hair dye, bleach, plant care agent and sterilizer

This article is a comparison between the most popular small scale lamps for the treatment of vitiligo. They both use the Phililips PL-S 9W/01/2P 1CT bulb  (311 nm Narrow Band) which means the therapeutic principle is the same. Dermalight 80 The Dermalight package contains a handheld UV lamp, a comb attachment, UV-protective goggles and a LCD-timer.  Everything is enclosed in a protective plastic case, making it easy to move around without damaging the sensitive UV bulb.  From the lamp’s size we can say it’s recommended for small to moderately sized vitiligo patches.  Though on initial observation it might look like equipment for the treatment of the scalp, it can be used on all areas of the body, the comb attachment doing a handy job as a distance holder. The lamp can be equipped with either UVA, broad UVB or nbUVB bulbs so be sure to get the appropriate 311 nm nbUVB version for the treatment of vitiligo. Depending on the region you are residing, you can acquire the 115V 60Hz version for the US, or a 220-240 Volts, 50 Hz version for the rest of the world. US laws state that a prescription is required for the acquisition of any UV treatment products. Price ranges from 300 to 700$ https://www.favoriteplus.com/Dermalight-80-UVB-Phototherapy-Lamp-for-Psoriasis-Vitiligo-Eczema

Do not despair, there are plenty of efficient therapies out there. Keep in mind that most vitiligo treatments are long term (2-6 months) and the best therapeutic plan is individual. The sooner you start treating vitiligo, the better. Generally, young people respond well to the treatment. Most patients find it easy to repigment the face while hands and feet are particularly difficult to treat. Find a doctor Hopefully your dermatologist will have some advice about the available treatment options but surprisingly there are few good doctors who deal with vitiligo patients. If your doctor doesn't prescribe you the more recent therapies like nbUVB or immunomodulators you can go ahead and search for a new derm. There are doctors who claim there's no efficient treatment for vitiligo. Again it's time to search for a new derm. Don't fall for miracle products. False claims, photoshopped pictures and fake success stories are just some of the tools used in the marketing of miracle products. Refrain yourself from purchasing any Internet medicine or herbal remedies for the treatment of vitiligo. At present there isn't any universally efficient vitiligo cure so anything being refereed to as so should be regarded with suspicion. Instead talk to your doctor about the products, vitamins or other therapies that are safe and efficient for repigmenting.

On the 26'th of August, The Today Show ran a segment a vitiligo. It featured Darcel de Vlugt, a 23 year old girl that was born black and lost all her pigment due to vitiligo. Her disease began as a few white spots on her forearm at the age of five. As the years passed, she developed patches on her legs and forehead, that later spread to the rest of her body. By the age of 17 Darcel's transformation was complete. Her family believes that the disease was triggered by the stress of moving at such a young age (Darcel's father worked for the UN and they traveled all around the world) Miss de Vlugt's skin is very sensitive to sunlight so she constantly protects herself wearing a sunscreen with a sun protection factor of 100. A few years back, Darcel was given the option to bleach the few black patches she still had but she decided against it, hoping that all the treatments would eventually work. Unfortunately that was not the case. Her body is now all white, not a single spot of black pigment left. {"preview_thumbnail":"/sites/default/files/styles/video_embed_wysiwyg_preview/public/video_thumbnails/7PcMY3bti90.jpg?itok=1tBDYboo","video_url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PcMY3bti90","settings":{"responsive":1,"width":"854","height":"480","autoplay":0},"settings_summary":["Embedded Video (Responsive)."]}  

Hedvig Lindahl is a 26 year old Swedish football player who currently plays for Göteborg football club in Damallsvenskan. She has been regularly convoked for the Swedish national football team and won the Goalie of the year award in 2004 and 2005. She has played in two Olympics and won several medals in national competitions. Hedvig has had vitiligo since she was little and agreed to answer some questions about how it impacted her life and career. 1. I've read on your website that the condition started around the age of 5. How was it growing up and being different ? Hm, at first I didn't think of it so much. The only thing that bothered me was when heading to the beach, me having to use a whole lot of sunblock. For me, the smell of sunblock is the smell of summer. When I turned older, I was glad that I had brown parts of pigment on by body, 'cause then people could see that I had an illness, instead of just being all white. Now, when I'm older, I don't care about other people's opinion so much, but I'm glad that I'm all white now. It suits me ! 2. Every vitiligo patient knows vitiligo is more than some white spots on the skin. Though some may deny it, the condition has negative psychological effects as well. Was there any point in your life you've felt that vitiligo is physically or mentally keeping you from doing something you want ?

Having a look at a recent press release I found out that a Loyola University Hospital researcher is focusing her research on finding a treatment for vitiligo. The interesting part is that she says this could also lead to a treatment for melanoma, a form of skin cancer. In vitiligo, the immune system goes into overdrive and attacks pigment cells, causing the skin to lose color. On the other side, melanoma could be treated by reviving up the immune system to start attacking malignant pigment cells. "Things we learn from vitiligo could apply to melanoma, and vice versa," says Loyola researcher Caroline Le Poole, PhD. Le Poole is an associate professor in the Oncology Institute of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. None of the existing treatments prevent vitiligo from progressing. But the approach Le Poole is studying potentially could stop vitiligo in its tracks. In people who are susceptible to vitiligo, an injury to the skin, such as sunburn, can trigger pigment cells to generate stress proteins. Immune cells absorb these proteins and, in turn, signal killer T cells to destroy pigment cells. Le Poole hopes to throw a wrench into this overactive immune response. In collaboration with Assay Designs, Inc. of Ann Arbor, Mi., she is developing blockers that would stop immune cells from absorbing stress hormones and triggering the immune response.

I often noticed people as well as medical professionals misspelling the name of our skin disorder. Probably the most common spell error accounts for the horrific "vitaligo". So let's find out how to correctly pronounce, write and read the name of our disease. Vitiligo is pronounced vit-ihl-eye-go. The name comes from the latin "vitium", meaning fault, defect which in this case is a spot or bleamish and the suffix "ligo" which means "to cause, to provoke". So vitiligo can be translated as "causing spots, depigmentation". Check here the audio  recording of how to properly pronounce "vitiligo" correctly: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vitiligo Another opinion on the etiology of the word vitiligo comes from the disease appearance, resembling the white glistening of the flesh of calves, called vituli in ancient Rome, may have given rise to the generic term vitiligo. I've also encountered opinions that the word is derived from "vitelius", meaning "calf" because of the white patches on it's fur. In ancient times, vitiligo wasn't much distinguished from leprosy as the 1841 Lexicon of the Latin Language of Facciolati & Forcellini states: Vitiligo (vitium) a kind of leprosy or cutaneous eruption consisting of spots, sometimes black, sometimes white, called the morphea, alphus, melas, leuce; also in general a cutaneous eruption. Celsus & Pliny."

To set things straight: there is no cure for vitiligo. The good news is there are some effective therapies available. In vitiligo, a treatment is not universally applicable: what works for someone may yield little or no results for someone else. There are cases in which individuals have achieved full repigmentation so we might be tempted to say they are cured. False ! Reoccurrence of spots is frequent in vitiligo patients. At present the "vitiligo cure" that performs wonders in less than a week is nothing more than a philosopher's stone. Generally a vitiligo treatment lasts months, years and its outcome is hard to predict. The earlier you begin treatment, the higher the chances to regain pigment. Melanocites reside in hair follicles and can be encouraged to multiply and cover the white spots. Once the hair in the vitiligo zone looses pigment the slimmer the chances you will get cured. Don't get fooled into buying internet wonder products that promise 100% success rates and a quick vitiligo cure. You will do nothing else than spend your money away. The right approach is establishing a treatment with your dermatologist and following it thoroughly. Vitiligo is a lifelong condition so you will have to learn to live with it. News from scientists and research groups are encouraging, some are even promising a vitiligo cure within 10 years.

Based on evidence that oxidative stress is involved in the pathogenesis of vitiligo, it appears that antioxidant supplements are helping vitiligo patients regain pigment. In the November 2008 issue of Dermatology Times, dr. Pearl Grimes, one of the scientists working to find a cure for this skin disorder, says that based on clinical trials she recommends her vitiligo patients the following vitamins: vitamin E Vitamin C coenzyme Q10 folic acid vitamin B12 a high potency multivitamin alpha lipoic acid Dr. Grimes uses the vitamin regime combined with nbUVB with encouraging results. But what is the idea behind a vitamin regime ? As an autoimmune disease, a vitiligo patient's immune system needs stabilization before beginning any treatment (eg. nbUVB, PUVA). Some studies have shown that this vitamin/supplement regime can help repigment the skin by itself. Pairing up B12 and folic acid is another aspect to have in mind. Used solely, folic acid can mask the B12 deficiency, frequent in vitiligo patients. NOTE: please consult your physician for the vitamin healthy dosage and before taking any supplements.