Friday, July 10, 2009

Everyone wants to learn about vitiligo


All of a sudden, search engines like Google and Yahoo saw a surge in people searching for "vitiligo." Why? You haven't been watching the news, have you? So, let me give you my thoughts about vitiligo. Vitiligo appears to be an autoimmune process directed against melanocytes. These melanocytes provide pigmentation for your skin. Destroy those melanocytes and you're left with no pigment.

Here are some interesting facts about vitiligo:
  • Vitiligo is a component of the polyglandular autoimmune syndrome type II (which includes autoimmune thyroid disease, type 1 diabetes mellitus, primary adrenal insufficiency, and hypopituitarism.
  • Vitiligo can occur in association with autoimmune hepatitis, alopecia areata, and pernicious anemia.
  • Many people with vitiligo have no family history of vitiligo nor a history of other autoimmune diseases
Given all our recent advances in medical technology, I wonder what type of treatments or cures we'll eventually find for vitiligo. Gene therapy?

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