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Before looking at vitiligo latest treatment options, it may be helpful to go over the basics of the disease vitiligo and what we know about it.
Vitiligo is a disease in which the melanocytes in your skin quit making melanin, the pigment that colors your skin. The result is unsightly white blotches on the skin. In some cases, the blotches or spots may continue to spread until they cover effectively the patients entire skin.
Doctors are not 100% certain of all of the factors involved in vitiligo. Research indicates that genetic factors play a role in an individuals susceptibility to vitiligo. Researchers also believe that there is an auto-immune component to vitiligo, and that it may be triggered by stress, perhaps something even an simple as a sunburn.
If you're looking for vitiligo latest treatment options, one of the most recent developments in vitiligo treatment has been laser treatment. It is showing more success than many other treatments currently being used.
The symptoms of vitiligo are caused by non functioning melanocytes. In dark skinned people, melanocytes normally produce melanin constantly. However, in fair skinned peoples, melanocytes only produce melanin when stimulated by ultraviolet rays, usually the sun. That is what we call a sun tan.
Historically, one of the treatments for vitiligo has been to expose the patient to ultraviolet rays through some from of photo therapy. (Photo means light, so Photo therapy just means light therapy). The problem with that is that the patients entire body was exposed to the ultraviolet rays, which can have negative health effects.
One of the most promising vitiligo latest treatments is laser treatment. With this treatment, a laser is used to carefully focus the ultraviolet rays onto only the affected areas of the patients body. This avoids the possibility of sunburn or other damage to the other areas of skin.
Several scientific studies have been done on laser treatment, and they give hope that it is a promising vitiligo latest treatment option. Both of the first studies published showed remarkable improvement in vitiligo patients.
Types of Vitiligo
Vitiligo is can be characterized into degrees of severity and is defined in terms of percent of the body’s surface area that is affected by psoriasis.
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Mild : affected less than 2% of the body ‘s surface |
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Moderate: affects 2 – 10% |
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Severe: affects greater than 10% of the body’s surface |
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