A visual examination by a healthcare provider usually leads to an accurate diagnosis of vitiligo. Your provider may use a Wood's lamp to look at your skin. This lamp uses an ultraviolet (UV) light that shines onto your skin to help your provider differentiate vitiligo from other skin conditions.
Pityriasis versicolor can sometimes be confused with vitiligo, as they both cause the skin to become discoloured in patches. But there are ways to tell the difference: vitiligo often develops symmetrically (on both sides of your body at the same time), while pityriasis versicolor may not.
Because vitiligo spots have no melanin, they can't tan. If the skin isn't protected with sunscreen, vitiligo patches may burn or scar. Getting a tan on the rest of your body will only highlight the white patches, especially if you have light skin.
The most common causes of dry white patches on the skin are eczema, seborrheic dermatitis, psoriasis and nutritional deficiencies.
Diagnosis of Vitiligo
If you have vitiligo, the light makes affected areas of your skin appear chalky and bright. Other tests can include: Blood tests to check for other autoimmune diseases. An eye exam to check for uveitis, an inflammation of part of the eye that sometimes occurs with vitiligo.
You'll usually spot signs of vitiligo on the face, hands, elbows and knees. It's unusual to see tinea versicolor on the hands or legs. TV is most common on the chest or back. And the discoloration isn't the same for both conditions.
Vitiligo is a common skin disease characterized by the presence of well circumscribed, depigmented milky white macules devoid of identifiable melanocytes. On the other hand, hypopigmented mycosis fungoides (MF) is a rare variant of MF which presents clinically as persistent hypopigmented macules and patches.
The first appearance of vitiligo is through small white skin patches that usually appear on the hands, arms, face, or feet although they may appear anywhere on the body.
Pre-vitiligo patches appear as pale yellow patches before they turn into white vitiligo patches. It is beneficial if one notices them and treats this problem at an early stage and not let it convert to vitiligo. Mostly they start affecting the areas like face, knees, elbows, back of the hand, etc.
Vitiligo is a disorder that causes your skin to lose its color. Hypopigmentation is a symptom of vitiligo. Sometimes, your skin cells produce too little pigment. This can create patches of skin that look lighter than your surrounding skin.
What causes hypopigmentation? Skin loses its color when the body cannot produce enough melanin. Causes include genetic factors, trauma, and inflammation. Blisters, burns, dermatitis, and fungal infections are all possible factors.
Vitiligo also tends to affect different areas from tinea versicolor. It's likely to appear on your face, eyes, mouth, fingers and hands. An autoimmune condition causes vitiligo, but a fungal infection causes tinea versicolor. Tinea versicolor can be a nuisance and make you feel insecure.
Self-Check Exam
There are no home tests that can test for vitiligo, but you can check if you have depigmented areas. It is possible for vitiligo to lead to hearing loss. This is because the inner ear contains melanocytes. Hearing loss can occur when these cells are attacked.
Known vitiligo triggers include: A severe sunburn. Injured skin (cut, scrape, burn) Getting a strong chemical like phenol on your skin.
First-line vitiligo treatment includes moderate-to-high strength topical corticosteroids and calcineurin inhibitors, both of which dampen the cellular immune response (Table 1).
Vitiligo treatment is usually lengthy and challenging. Clinical markers, such as trichrome sign, confetti-like depigmentation, and Koebner phenomenon, may be more convenient and noninvasive than serum biomarkers for assessing the prognosis of vitiligo.
Vitiligo may occur in the same areas on both sides of the face -- symmetrically -- or it may be patchy -- asymmetrical. The typical vitiligo lesion is flat and depigmented, but maintains the normal skin texture. The dark areas around the eyes are this person's normal skin color.
Another condition that rarely causes a true white spot is nevus depigmentosus, which is a birthmark that usually appears within the first few months of life, has jagged edges, usually doesn't turn the hair white, and doesn't grow in size like vitiligo – it may get larger as the child grows and the skin stretches, but ...
Eczema, hives, psoriasis, rosacea, picking at the skin and more conditions can all be caused by an increase in stress levels and anxiety. The same goes for alopecia (hair loss), vitiligo (depigmented white spots on the skin) and trichotillomania (hair pulling).
White spots on the skin, also known as leukoderma or vitiligo, can be caused by a variety of factors, including vitamin deficiencies. Vitamin B-12, vitamin C, vitamin D, and folate deficiencies can all cause white spots on the skin.