Vitiligo Symptoms:
The following are some common symptoms, which may appears on a person skin when he suffered by it.
a) The most obvious sign of vitiligo is loss of pigment on the flat skin,
resulting in creating milky-white, irregularly shaped patches on it.
b) The skin cells do not produce enough melanin. For some people this can
happen quickly, while for others the patches may stay the same for months
or years.
c) The first white patch usually develops where the skin has been exposed
to the sun. Vitiligo is not caused by an infection.
d) About 12% vitiligo patients, experience intense itching at the site of
area that exposed to sunlight, but normally it does not cause itching or
any physical discomfort to the skin.
e) If the white patches appear symmetrically on more than one part of body,
then such condition may progress quite slowly, but if you have white patches
on only one area of your body, then this condition may progress more rapidly.
f) Less common signs include loss of hair’s colour pigment or graying
of hair on scalp, eyebrows, eyelashes or other affected areas.
g) The loss of pigment may also experience on the tissues that line inside
the mouth (mucous membranes) and the retina of the eye in vitiligo patients.
h) The white spots are usually more common over bony areas.
i) Sometime, These white spots or patches produce a mirror image effect
by occurring in the same areas on both sides of the body.
Diagnosis of vitiligo:
Medical Tests are not usually needed to diagnose vitiligo; a doctor may identify it by JUST its appearance. Typical lab work for vitiligo includes all or part of the following tests:
• ANA Test: (Antinuclear Antibody) This test helps determine if the patient has other autoimmune diseases.
• Thyroid peroxides antibody (TPOAb) -Thyroid antibody testing is primarily ordered to help diagnose an autoimmune thyroid disease and to separate it from other forms of thyroiditis.
• CBC with differential,
• Comprehensive metabolic panel,
• Thyroid panel including TSH, ANA, and thyroid antibody (shows risk factors for future problems).
• Lupus panel
• Lymphocyte panel.
• 25-Hydroxy-Vitamin D
• Folate/B12
Note: The doctor may also use a Woods light to confirm vitiligo, as vitiligo will glow under this light.