Vitiligo

Clinic

• Vitiligo is a disorder that causes the skin to lose its color.
• Specific causes are unknown but studies suggest a link to immune system changes.

Signs / Symptoms

• The only sign of vitiligo is the presence of pale patchy areas of Depigmented skin which tend to occur on the extremities.
• Some people may experience itching before a new patch occurs.
• Patches are initially small, but often grow and change shape.
• They are most prominent on the face, hands and wrists. The loss of skin pigmentation is particularly noticeable around body orifices, such as the mouth, eyes, nostrils, genitalia and umbilicus. Some lesions have increased skin pigment around the edges.
• Those affected by vitiligo who are stigmatized for their condition may experience depression and similar mood disorders.

Causes

• Vitiligo has been proposed to be a multifactorial disease with genetic susceptibility and environmental factors both thought to play a role.

• Melanin is the pigment that gives skin its color; it is produced by skin cells called melanocytes.
• Variations in genes that are part of the immune system or part of melanocytes have both been associated with vitiligo. It is also thought to be caused by the immune system attacking and destroying the melanocytes of the skin.

Related disease

• Hashimoto's thyroiditis
• Scleroderma
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• type 1 diabetes mellitus
• Psoriasis
• Addison's disease
• Pernicious anemia
• Alopecia areata
• SLE
• Celiac disease.
• Among the inflammatory products of NALP1 are caspase 1 and caspase 7, which activate the inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1β. Interleukin-1β and interleukin-18 are expressed at high levels in people with vitiligo. In one of the mutations, the amino acid leucine in the NALP1 protein was replaced by histidine (Leu155 → His). The original protein and sequence is highly conserved in evolution, and is found in humans, chimpanzee, rhesus monkey, and the bush baby.
• Addison's disease (typically an autoimmune destruction of the adrenal glands) may also be seen in individuals with vitiligo.

Note

I think vitiligo is a part of Autoimmune disease and other parts are