What is vitiligo, the autoimmune disease Malayalam actor Mamta Mohandas has been diagnosed with?

She also added many hashtags, including autoimmune disease, vitiligo, embrace the journey, and heal yourself, as she gave fans a health update.

What is vitiligo?

According to Dr Dilip Gude, Senior Consultant and Physician, Yashoda Hospitals, Hyderabad, vitiligo is a chronic autoimmune disorder that causes patches of skin to lose pigment or colour. “This happens when melanocytes – skin cells that make pigments – are attacked and destroyed, causing the skin to turn into milky-white colour,” he said.

Symptoms

He added that the most common symptoms of this disorder include symmetric white patches appearing on both sides of the body, such as on both hands or both knees. “Rarely, there can be a rapid loss of colour or pigment, and the patches can cover a larger area,” he said.

Dr Gude highlighted that, in this disorder, hair turning white in areas where the skin is losing pigment can happen anywhere on the body, such as the scalp, eyebrows, eyelashes, beard, and body hair. “Even mucous membranes, such as the insides of mouth or nose, can also get affected by vitiligo.”

What is it caused by?

Vitiligo is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the melanocytes. “There is a strong role of genetic and family history in causing vitiligo. External factors such as sunburn, emotional distress, or exposure to some chemicals can trigger vitiligo or make it worse,” the expert added.

Prevention and treatment

There is no complete cure of prevention for vitiligo as of now. “Goals of treatment are to restore the pigment and prevent depigmentation from affecting more skin. Limiting sun exposure is one of the most effective ways to prevent depigmentation and damage,” Dr Gude said, sharing some treatment options.

Therapies: Phototherapy with narrow-band ultraviolet B (UVB) has been shown to stop or slow the progression of active vitiligo. It might be more effective when used with corticosteroids or calcineurin inhibitors.

Combining psoralen and light therapy: This treatment combines a plant-derived substance called psoralen with light therapy (photochemotherapy) to return colour to the light patches.

Removing the remaining colour (depigmentation): This therapy may be an option if your vitiligo is widespread and other treatments haven’t worked. A depigmenting agent is applied to unaffected areas of skin. This gradually lightens the skin so that it blends with the discoloured areas. The therapy is done once or twice a day for nine months or longer.

Surgery: If light therapy and medications haven’t worked, some people with stable vitiligo may be candidates for surgery.

The following techniques are intended to even out skin tone by restoring colour:

Skin grafting: In this procedure, transfers of very small sections of healthy, pigmented skin to areas that have lost pigment are done.

Blister grafting: In this procedure, your doctor creates blisters on your pigmented skin, usually with suction, and then transplants the tops of the blisters to discoloured skin.

Cellular suspension transplant: In this procedure, some tissues from the pigmented skin are taken and the cells are transferred to a solution and then transplanted onto the prepared affected area.

A drug to stimulate colour-producing cells (melanocytes) called afamelanotide: This potential treatment is implanted under the skin to promote the growth of melanocytes.

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