A deficiency in vitamin C can also cause white spots on the skin. This vitamin is important for the production of collagen, which helps to keep the skin healthy and elastic.
A deficiency in vitamin B-12 can present itself as white spots or patches on your skin.
#Myth 2: Vitamin C can cause skin discolouration
But it's equally true that instead of darkening your skin, vitamin C actually evens the skin tone and brightens it over time. However, if exposed to light or air, vitamin C products can degrade and turn brown/orange; its benefits will also become obsolete.
Vitiligo is a long-term condition where pale white patches develop on the skin. It's caused by the lack of melanin, which is the pigment in skin. Vitiligo can affect any area of skin, but it commonly happens on the face, neck and hands, and in skin creases.
Avoiding white spots
In the case of sun damage, the health of your skin is entirely in your hands. By using sunscreen, staying out of the sun, not using sunbeds and avoiding being sunburned, you can prevent the damage that UV can cause to your melanin-producing cells – thereby preventing white spots.
The affected areas of skin are small—usually no bigger than an inch in diameter. A diagnosis of pityriasis alba is based on a physical exam and skin tests. Most often, the white spots on the skin heal on their own without treatment.
White spots can appear when skin proteins or dead cells become trapped under the skin's surface. They can also result from depigmentation, or color loss, due to vitiligo or another health condition. White skin spots are not usually a reason for concern and do not cause major symptoms.
Known vitiligo triggers include: A severe sunburn. Injured skin (cut, scrape, burn) Getting a strong chemical like phenol on your skin.
Both conditions cause white or light patches of skin or hair. Piebaldism occurs when a portion of your skin doesn't have melanocytes, which are cells that produce pigment (melanin). You're born with piebaldism. Vitiligo occurs when your body has melanocytes, but they're destroyed.
Acids, vitamin C serums and retinoids can all cause purging. Purging is an initial acne breakout that can occur when you're starting a new active skincare product—one that causes your skin cells to turn over more quickly.
Though it's an antioxidant, vitamin C is acidic, especially those L-ascorbic acid-based formulas. "The problem with L-ascorbic is that it's highly unstable and in order to be stable, it has to be put at a very low pH, which tends to burn and irritate sensitive skin," explains dermatologist Dr.
See a dentist or GP if:
you have a white patch in your mouth that has not gone away after 2 weeks. you have a white patch on your tongue and a weakened immune system – for example, you have HIV or have had an organ transplant.
Small white spots on the skin can indicate a deficiency of vitamin B12 in the body. This deficiency can lead to low levels of melatonin, contributing to the white spots on your skin including your face. Other than this, deficiencies in vitamins D and vitamin E can also cause white patches on the skin.
If the spots are not truly white, but hypopigmented and not depigmented (they don't enhance by Wood's lamp), then they are NOT vitiligo and could be any number of different diseases and conditions.
“Patients with sleep disorders may suffer the potential risk for vitiligo. Therefore, a bidirectional relationship exists between vitiligo and sleep disorders.”
While researchers are looking for a cure, treatment cannot currently cure this disease. Treatment can help restore lost skin color, but the color (repigmentation) may fade over time. To keep their results, many patients have maintenance treatments.
Anyone can get vitiligo, and it can develop at any age. However, for many people with vitiligo, the white patches begin to appear before age 20, and can start in early childhood.
How Is Vitiligo Treated? There is no "cure" for vitiligo. Sometimes patches go away on their own.
Known as phototherapy, this treatment uses specific types of UV light to both suppress the skin's immune system and stimulate melanocytes to produce more melanin. The most common type of phototherapy used for vitiligo, narrowband UVB treatment, is often combined with other topical treatments to improve results.
White spots are a relatively common skin issue and are usually nothing to worry about. They may appear as small white bumps that protrude slightly from the surface of the skin around the eyes and mouth, or white lumps or growths on the hands, feet, or other parts of the body.
The patches usually disappear within a few months but can last up to a few years. There is no specific treatment for pityriasis alba, but a doctor may treat any symptoms of itching or discomfort with a steroid or non-steroid cream.