Looking for a Reliable Vitiligo Treatment? You are on a Right Page!!

Have you ever seen a person once extremely confident suddenly becoming self conscious? If not, you haven’t met someone with vitiligo yet. Vitiligo, a condition characterized by white patches can actually tear down the confidence of a person suffering from it. Picture this. One of my friends, who was always reasonably popular in the society for her motivational talks and was recognized for her pleasant looks & outgoing personality suddenly stopped making public appearances. The reason we never knew until one day I bumped into her at a clinic of a popular homeopath. She looked different. It took me only few seconds to realize the reason for her sudden withdrawal from social gatherings. The white patches all over her face and body! Vitiligo had shattered the buoyancy of this once extremely confident woman.

As seen in her case, staying with vitiligo can be extremely stressful. People tend to avoid making public appearances and isolate themselves. It is not uncommon for people with vitiligo to be discriminated against in matrimony. If vitiligo affects one after marriage, it is often a strong ground for separation.

Vitiligo affects not only one’s emotional state, but also one’s psychological well-being, familial or social life, career and also self-esteem. More so, when white patches appear on certain areas of the body — face, hands, arms, and feet, or genitals. Adolescents can be shattered by vitiligo; others may feel just as much humiliated, miserable, or apprehensive about how others react or look at them.

Talking about the medical risks, people with vitiligo are more susceptible to sunburn and also skin cancer. Some vitiligo patients may, at times, have an increased risk of developing certain autoimmune diseases — e.g., kidney disease, hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, diabetes and alopecia areata.

In case of my friend, her career involved a lot of public speaking and presentations to large groups. The very nature of her work which was mainly image related – put her under tremendous pressure to look good and therefore to conceal white patches at all costs was her only aim in life and out she was to get the best treatment for vitiligo and it was homeopathy. When I asked her why homeopathy, this is what she had to answer.

To know which is the best vitiligo treatment for you, you need to first understand how vitiligo occurs. Vitiligo, also called leucoderma, or white patches, is an auto-immune disease, in which antibodies start destroying its own pigment-producing cells of the skin. The cells that make the pigment melanin, which gives our skin its colour, are destroyed. The outcome is white patches on the skin.

If you have been diagnosed with vitiligo, you would be aware of several treatment options available for treating vitiligo. However, unfortunately, a vast majority of vitiligo treatments are created to take advantage of the desperation some vitiligo patients go through after their initial diagnosis.

Some of the vitiligo treatments under conventional medicines include photo chemotherapy, micro-pigmentation (tattooing) and skin grafts. However, these treatments might result in some side-effects like severe sunburn & blistering, as well as scarring. There might also be recurrence of patches and in most cases it has been observed many medicines for vitiligo provide short-term results.  

So, does homeopathy provide long-term results and side-effects free vitiligo treatment? The answer is yes.

As vitiligo is an auto immune disorder, homeopathic medicines provide a comprehensive and effective treatment by moderating the immune system. It thus targets the root cause of the ailment. In vitiligo, the melanocytes, melanin-producing cells present beneath the skin, are damaged. This mainly results in diminished skin color patches, which later convert into white and get prominent, forming into white patches. Where the homeopathic vitiligo treatment scores over other conventional treatments is that homeopathic medicines activate the melanin cells to produce the melanin pigment and restore the natural color of the skin. Homeopathic medicines provide the most safe and restorative vitiligo treatment in a natural way.

So, the homeopathy treatment for vitiligo is primarily aimed at stopping or slowing down the further destruction of melanocytes and stimulating re-pigmentation in the existing patches.

The scope of homeopathic vitiligo treatment extends beyond the physical symptoms, and the approach is more holistic in nature. Homeopathy addresses the underlying conditions like stress, and depression that are seen in many cases of vitiligo to help patients live normal life. No one remedy is prescribed to all the patients. 

More importantly, homeopathic medicines are safe, and therefore treat patients without any side- effects. Also, homeopathy medicines are easy to comply with.

Some of the recommended homeopathic medicines for vitiligo treatment are:

Note: Please take the above medicines only after consulting an expert homeopath. Do not self-medicate. 

Lifestyle and home remedies for vitiligo

1. Protect your skin: Use sunscreen (ideally with SPF 30). It helps guard the skin from sunburn and long-term damage. Sunscreen also minimises tanning — this makes the contrast between normal and depigmented skin less apparent.
2. Conceal imperfections: Cosmetics that cover the white patches on skin may improve appearance and help one feel better about oneself. These cosmetic products may be particularly effective if one has vitiligo that’s limited to the exposed areas of the body. Speak to a dermatologist about cosmetics that are safe and also suit the affected individual’s skin best
3. Fish and milk myths: There is no need for dietetic restrictions in vitiligo.
4. Don't get a tattoo: Avoid tattooing that's not related to treating your vitiligo. Damage to your skin, such as that caused by a tattoo, may cause a new patch of vitiligo to appear within two weeks.