Vitiligo on Face, Around Eyes and Lips
Vitiligo is nothing but the loss of skin melanin, that is skin color pigment. Due to the internal immunological process, the skin may lose color anywhere, including any part of the face.
For cosmetic and social reasons, patients with vitiligo always have a concern about spreading vitiligo on the face, the most visible area, as it can affect the self-esteem of the person.
Medically speaking, a random, single spot of vitiligo on one side of the face is not very difficult to treat, unless it affects the lips, a corner of the lip or the corner of the eyes—what is typically called mucocutaneous junctions—which makes the treatment difficult.
If one has vitiligo around both the eyes, again, that brings one in the ‘difficult to treat’ category, as ‘bilaterally symmetrical vitiligo’ is more difficult to show results.
In our experience at Life Force, over seven thousand cases, for one to develop symmetrical patches, there must be a strong genetic factor. That is, someone in the family must have suffered from one of the auto-immune diseases such as vitiligo, under-active thyroid, alopecia, diabetes, or cancer. Many times, the patient may not be aware of such family history.
The distribution of vitiligo on different parts of the body is to be studied, especially for determining the prognosis and scope of the recovery. There is no clear-cut understanding in the medical textbooks yet as to why one gets vitiligo in certain specific places on the body. However, we have made certain clinical observations based on the evaluation of a large number of cases of vitiligo.
If one has lips affected by vitiligo, it is better to accept this situation, and the treatment should be targeted at controlling further spread rather than curing it, as this variety is very difficult to treat. Camouflage or tattooing is a suggested treatment for it.
Vitiligo around both eyes is difficult to cure completely. However, we have documented some cases with partial or significant success at Life Force, if not all.
There is no specific treatment or medicine to prevent vitiligo on any specific part of the body, such as the face. The treatment can try to control the underlying disease process by controlling the spread of vitiligo in general.
Single or a few, not too large, vitiligo spots on the face can find good results.
Disclaimer
Some of the cases shown above have exhibited impressive recovery using homeopathic treatment at Life Force, in spite of their obstinate nature. It must also be noted that we would like to acknowledge that similar success may not be seen in each and every case of vitiligo.
Written & Approved by-
Dr. Rajesh Shah
M.D. (Hom.)