People who are most likely to get vitiligo are caucasians, people with autoimmune disorders, people that have a family history of vitiligo and people with darker skin and people between the ages of 20 to 30 years old although anyone of any age and any race can get vitiligo.
The autoimmune disease that is linked to vitiligo is thyroid disease, which includes both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism, type 1 diabetes, pernicious anemia and alopecia areata.
Other autoimmune diseases which can increase your chances of getting vitiligo are myasthenia gravis, linear morphea, Guillain Barre syndrome and discoid lupus.
Vitiligo often starts when your body's immune system "by mistake" attacks and destroys the melanocytes which are the cells which produce melanin that are a pigment in your skin.
As a result of the melanocytes being attacked and destroyed, it leads to vitiligo which are the appearance of white patches on your skin.
The root cause of vitiligo is thought to be an autoimmune disorder, although the actual exact cause of vitiligo is not known.
Vitiligo is thought to be caused by your body's immune system mistakenly attacking and destroying melanocytes, which are the cells, which produce melanin, which is the pigment which gives your skin it's color.
Other possible causes of vitiligo are genetics, thyroid disease or type 1 diabetes, exposure to sunlight, exposure to certain chemicals, stress, oxidative stress like an imbalance between your free radicals and antioxidants in your body can damage melanocytes and some viral or bacterial infections or even nutritional deficiencies such as low levels of vitamin D can be associated with vitiligo.
Vitiligo is not contagious and is not harmful doesn't need any medical attention although it can be unsightly or uncomfortable.
The first symptoms of vitiligo are pale or white patches that appear on your skin.
The pale or white patches that appear on your skin when you have vitiligo are the result of the loss of pigment producing cells called melanocytes.
The pale or white patches on the skin often appear in areas exposed to the sun such as your face, hands, feet and other body openings.
Other early signs and symptoms of vitiligo are premature graying or whitening of your hair, including your scalp, eyebrows, eyelashes or even beard.
The hallmark sign of vitiligo is the development of well defined, pale or white patches on your skin.
The pale or white patches on your skin can occur anywhere on the body, although they most often appear on areas that are exposed to the sun, such as your face, arms, feet, hands, and around your mouth and eyes.
The pale or white patches on your skin, often start out small and may gradually get bigger and the affected areas often feel the same as the surrounding skin in terms of texture.
And the pale or white patches might even appear more noticeable on people that have medium to dark skin tones.
And early graying or whitening of your hair, especially in younger people, can also be a sign of vitiligo, and the graying can also occur with a beard or mustache as well as eyebrows and eyelashes.
Vitiligo can also affect your mucous membranes and lead to a loss of color inside of your nose or mouth.
And some people with vitiligo experience itching in the area before your skin becomes discolored.
And some people with vitiligo may also be more prone to sunburn in the areas affected by vitiligo.
Vitiligo often begins as a pale patch of skin which turns completely white gradually.
And the center of the patch with vitiligo may be white with paler skin around it, and if there are any blood vessels under your skin, the patch might be slightly pink, instead of white and the edges of the patch with vitiligo may also be smooth or irregular.