Vitiligo is a skin disease that causes the formation of white spots

Vitiligo is a skin disease that causes the formation of white patches or spots, also known as acromic macules. It occurs due to an alteration that causes the destruction of melanocytes – the cells that produce the melanin that gives color to the skin – and thus causes the skin to become depigmented.

Vitiligo is a skin disease that causes the formation of white spots

These spots can appear on any part of the body, usually symmetrically on both sides, and can spread or remain unchanged, depending on the type of vitiligo.

Being a very visible disease at the skin level, it usually affects the sufferer psychologically; so much so that vitiligo is one of the dermatological diseases with the greatest impact of this type on patients.

What causes vitiligo?

Vitiligo is a consequence of the absence of melanin, the substance that determines the color of our skin, hair or eyes, produced by melanocytes.

It is not known why the affected person’s body causes the destruction of melanocytes in a certain region of the skin. Although it is not known for certain whether vitiligo is hereditary, there may be a genetic predisposition to vitiligo, and it may also be associated with autoimmune diseases, such as those related to the thyroid gland or diabetes, for example.

It may also be related to neurogenic mechanisms and others that have to do with the production in the organism of toxic substances that induce the destruction of melanocytes.

On the other hand, stress, sunburn and the use of certain medications or chemicals can act as triggers.

How does it manifest itself?

The patches or spots can appear anywhere on the body, usually symmetrically on both sides. They tend to be rounded or oval in shape and their outline is usually slightly irregular and well demarcated.

The edges are usually well defined and concave. If they become convex, it usually indicates that the spot is becoming re-pigmented. They vary in size – from two or three millimeters to several centimeters – and their most characteristic color is milky white in the case of bicolor vitiligo.