Vitiligo is a condition where the immune system destroys the cells that give skin its color, leaving smooth white patches. It is not painful, not contagious and not caused by anything you did, and treatment can bring color back to many patches if it is given long enough. A mild eczema pattern leaving pale, slightly dry patches, usually in children.
The same eight facts on every condition comparison.
Non-segmental vitiligo Patches on both sides; most common.
Segmental vitiligo One side or one area only.
Focal vitiligo A few patches in one area.
Universal vitiligo Generated illustration. Most of the body.
Pityriasis Alba Several lighter patches blend gradually into the surrounding skin.
Immune activity contributes to the loss of pigment-producing cells in affected skin. With less melanin, pale patches become visible while the skin's texture usually remains normal.
Mild skin inflammation temporarily reduces visible pigment in affected patches. The lighter areas can remain visible after the irritation has settled.
Vitiligo. Can begin at any age, commonly before early adulthood.
Pityriasis Alba. Most often noticed in childhood or adolescence.
Vitiligo is an autoimmune condition. The immune system attacks the pigment cells in patches of skin, leaving them white.
Mild inflammation temporarily reduces visible pigment.
About 1 in 5 people with vitiligo have a relative with it.
Evidence labels come from each condition’s own treatment list.
Ginkgo biloba and polypodium leucotomos extract are the two most often asked about. Small studies suggest they may slow spread a little or add slightly to light therapy, but the trials are small and the results are inconsistent. They are not a treatment on their own, and no supplement has been shown to bring color back.
Cover creams made for skin conditions, and self-tanning lotions containing dihydroxyacetone, color the surface of a white patch for a few days at a time. They change nothing underneath and they do not interfere with treatment. For many people they make daily life easier during the year or more that repigmentation takes.
A JAK inhibitor cream approved specifically to restore pigment in vitiligo, applied twice a day. In trials about a third of people had most of the color back on the face by six months, and results keep improving past a year. It is slow, it is expensive, and color can be lost again if it is stopped, so it is usually continued about twice a week afterwards.
The usual choice for vitiligo on the face, eyelids, neck and skin folds, because it quiets the immune attack without thinning the skin, so it can be used in those places for months. It stings or feels warm for the first week or two in some people. It works best on the face and much less well on hands and feet.
Clobetasol Propionate. A strong steroid cream, the standard first treatment for a small number of patches on the body. It is used in courses with breaks, often a few weeks on and a few weeks off, because continuous use thins the skin and leaves stretch marks. It is not used on the face or eyelids, where tacrolimus is chosen instead.
A gentler relative of tacrolimus, used on the same delicate areas and often preferred for children or for people who find tacrolimus too stinging. It works the same way on the immune attack. It is generally a little less effective than tacrolimus for vitiligo.
A vitamin D cream sometimes added to a steroid or to light therapy, on the idea that it helps pigment cells return. On its own it does very little for vitiligo. Its value is as a partner treatment, and the evidence for even that is mixed.
Monobenzone cream removes the pigment that is left, so the skin ends up one even color. It is only considered when vitiligo already covers most of the body and repigmenting is not realistic. The change is permanent and cannot be reversed, and the skin afterwards has no protection from the sun at all, so it is a decision taken slowly and never as a first step.
An itchy inflamed patch may benefit from a brief clinician-advised low-potency treatment.
Tablets in the same family as ruxolitinib cream. Trials show real repigmentation, particularly when they are combined with light therapy, and they are the most active area of vitiligo research right now. They are not yet standard treatment for vitiligo, and they carry more risk than a cream, so they are used through a specialist or a trial.
Prednisone in short pulses. Low-dose steroid tablets taken on two days a week for a few months are used for one purpose in vitiligo: to stop pigment loss that is spreading quickly. It is a brake, not a way to bring color back, so it is paired with a cream or light therapy. Blood sugar, blood pressure and mood are watched while it is running.
Narrowband UVB, two or three sessions a week in a cabinet at the clinic, is the mainstay for vitiligo that covers more than a few small patches. It calms the immune attack and coaxes pigment cells out of the hair openings. Expect three to six months before the face shows change and a year or more for a full course, and better results when it is combined with a cream.
The same wavelength as narrowband UVB delivered through a handpiece, so it treats one patch and leaves the skin around it alone. It suits a small number of patches, especially on the face, and it is the practical option for children who cannot stand still in a cabinet. Sessions are usually twice a week, and it is not used for widespread vitiligo.
Pigment cells are taken from normal skin and moved into a white patch, either as tiny grafts or as a cell suspension. It is the best option for segmental vitiligo and for patches that have been completely stable for a year or more, including patches where the hair has gone white. It is never done while vitiligo is spreading, because the graft is attacked in turn.
Vitiligo is unpredictable, which is one of the hardest things about it. Non-segmental vitiligo, the common type, moves in waves — an active spell, a long still period, then another. Segmental vitiligo spreads within one area on one side over roughly six months to two years, then stops for good.
The patches usually recover their normal color gradually over months, sometimes taking a few years. Dryness may improve before the color difference disappears; the patches do not usually scar.
Sunburn inside the patches
Skin inside a vitiligo patch has no melanin at all, so it burns quickly and can burn badly while the skin around it is fine. A burn is also an injury, and injuries can bring out new patches, so a bad burn can make things worse in two ways at once. Daily broad-spectrum sunscreen on exposed patches prevents it, and it counts as treatment rather than an extra.
Thyroid and other autoimmune disease
The same immune tendency that causes vitiligo makes other autoimmune conditions more likely, and thyroid disease is the common one. It is often silent for a long time, which is why a thyroid blood test is standard at the first visit and is sometimes repeated later. Type 1 diabetes, pernicious anemia and alopecia areata also appear more often than average.
The weight of being looked at
Vitiligo does not make you unwell, but it is visible, and being looked at all day is tiring. Anxiety, low mood and avoiding ordinary things are common, and they are worse where the contrast is greater or the patches are on the face and hands. This counts as a medical reason to treat, not a cosmetic one, and it is worth saying out loud at the appointment.
It is not contagious; skin colour usually returns gradually.
Seek assessment of new white patches or spreading pigment loss. Discuss associated symptoms, sun protection and whether targeted autoimmune screening is appropriate.
Have sharply white, spreading or persistently scaly patches checked to confirm the cause.
Often, at least partly. Face, neck and trunk repigment well for a substantial proportion of people. Hands, fingers, feet and lips do poorly, and patches where the hair has gone white usually do not refill, because the pigment cells that restock a patch live in the hair openings. Nobody can promise a result, which is why photographs at the start are worth taking.
Longer than almost anyone expects. The first visible change on the face usually takes about three to six months, and a full course often runs a year or more. Judging a treatment at week six is judging it before it has done anything.
Not to your body. It does not shorten life, damage organs or turn into anything else. Two points matter: depigmented skin burns easily, and autoimmune conditions such as thyroid disease are more common alongside it, which is why blood tests are usually done.
Most likely not. Vitiligo moves in waves, and losing pigment over almost the entire body is uncommon. Nothing predicts the course from the first patch, which is why active spread is treated promptly.
Higher than average, but still low. Vitiligo runs in families through a group of immune genes rather than one, so most children of a parent with vitiligo never develop it.
No — the underlying immune tendency is genetic. But major stress, illness or surgery frequently lines up with the start of an active spell. Managing stress is worth doing for its own sake, and it is not a substitute for treatment.
A mild eczema pattern leaving pale, slightly dry patches, usually in children.
Moisturize and use sunscreen to limit contrast with surrounding skin.
Have sharply white, spreading or persistently scaly patches checked to confirm the cause.
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