IamA 16 y-o boy with a skin condition called "vitiligo" AMA!

Hey man, I saw in some posts you didn't take your shirt off and stuff because of it.

Trust me bro when I say that most people don't care, I used to never wear shorts because i have it on my legs. After 17 I realized that most people don't care too much, sure some people have a little looksie...but hey it makes you different than everyone else.

Edit: 584 upvotes? Damn, I wasn't expecting that, the most I've ever had was around 20ish.

I think so too, and I'm trying to get used to it. So far it's just been impossible for me to not think about it. But I'm trying, and I hope one day I will be able to just ignore it totally.

Do the de-pigmented areas still burn the same way pigmented skin would?

Yes - and much more easily! It is recommended for vitiligo patients to use sun tan lotion all the time when outside, but I think it's a bit exaggerated. My skin never burns, even though I spend lots of time outside exposed to sun at summer.

Wow, that's pretty interesting actually! Even if both areas of skin burn would the colour be different?

Could you clarify this question a bit? I don't get it. :)

when you get sunburn, would the de pigmented and pigmented skin be the same colour?

No, the depigmented section just turns red or pink. No melanin in the white skin to produce a tan

Thank you, I had no idea how to explain this but you did it right ;)

Incase both types of skin would burn, the de-pigmented area propably burns more badly. So the de-pigmented are would propably be more red for the time it is burnt, but would return back to white just like normal skin.

Wow, well TIL that one of my biology teachers back in high school had vitiligo on his hands. I always thought he had burned them somehow working with chemicals as science teachers do. Guess not. Does this condition affect your life in any dramatic way? Are things you can't do because of it?

All depends on how you take it yourself. I'm lucky since for now a t-shirt and shorts cover most of it, and no one ever notices it. But I don't go swimming to public places, neither do I take my shirt away at summer.

Basically anything that makes me take off clothes is so hard to do. You have no idea how much people can stare. :P

I have the same condition. Only it spread to my forearms, legs and face.

Don't be ashamed of it. Those people who stare at you or make comments aren't worth knowing anyway. F*ck those people ;)

Yeah I have it on my hands, face, feet, and elbows. Most have it a lot worse than OP.

Very true. I'm definitely lucky to have it like this, mostly under clothes.

Do you think Michael Jackson really had the same thing? Or was he making up his condition?

Most people think Michael Jackson changed his skin color -in fact when he started getting vitiligo spots on his body, he used make-up to cover them. Unfortunately the vitiligo spread on his body was so large that eventually he didn't have much natural pigment left. This is when he changed the make-up so that he covered the natural-pigmented spots with 'white' make-up, and so he became entirely 'white-skinned'.

By the way, I'm sorry for my english guys..I hope you can understand.

Oh where are you from?

I'm from Finland. :)

You have great English, don't worry about it :)

Thank you!

Katos perkele! :D

Hehe :)

I too have Vitiligo bro, I had it since birth apparently, I noticed this white spot on my foot which started to grow bigger.

I now have a white spot under my eye, on my knee and my ankle.

I didnt think to make an AMA though haha.

I made this throwaway account because I have White marks on my Penis, alot little white spots, they look like tattoos which can grow haha.

Anyways, do you have that too on your penis or am I some sort of rare pornstar material?

Edit: Thanks for all the positive reactions, I too have it on my scrotum and some parts next to it, the hair grows white, but the same goes for my knee and all the other spots And about the relationship comments, thanks, my self esteem went up a little, even though I never had a girlfriend before, but now I know I'm safe just in case haha

Yeah I do have it on my penis too, but it's not small spots, for me its just an area covering a part of it all around. Doesn't look too bad luckily :)

Best of luck for you with your condition :)

Does the de-pigmented skin feel any different from the rest? By this I mean do subjective sensations feel different?

De-pigmented areas feel exactly the same as any other for me and everyone else. This condition causes purely visual harm. (And in some cases mental)

What do you mean by mental ?

I was wondering if mental is the right term, but whatever. :D

What I mean is that some people take it better than others. Some people hide their bodies from others for their whole lifetime because they are ashamed.

Hey! I have this too! :D Fortunately it's going away thanks to my awesome dermatologist.

Do you get any treatments for it? I get my spots lasered, go tanning, and have a topical cream called Protopic. Tanning seems kinda counterintuitive, but it does help a lot.

Nice to meet someone with the same thing :)

I have only tried Protopic - didn't do the the thing for me, used it for 8 months.

Now I'm considering lasering. Which part of your treatment helped the most, and how expensive was the laser treatment? Also where do you live?

Lasering has helped the most by far. I use the XTRAC laser treatment, which is also used for psoriasis. It's basically a super concentrated tan for the spots. I haven't been to the derm for a while, since I wanted to give my skin a break (it makes it SO ITCHY.) but it started working after only a couple of sessions!

It wasn't expensive at all. Insurance covers it :D I live in the States.

Did you go to take the treatments immediately when you first got the condition? The treatments work better the faster you take them.

So in my case I'm wondering, would laser help since some spots have been there for 5+ years.

Not that uncommon buddy. I had it all over my face. After years of taking recolour, (a vitamin supplement) I look normal again. However, now that I have a beard some of my hair is pure white in some of the previously affected areas.

Yeah, unfortunately it affects hair too..but congratulations for beating it :)

My mother, uncle, and cousin all have this. I am 28 and so far have no signs of it. Does it affect your self confidence? My cousin has low self esteem because if it.

It is extremely hard to take my shirt off in front of anyone, or do anything that would make them see it.

This does restrict some things, but not too much.

Even if I have told someone about it and even explained where I have it, it is still extremely hard to show it to them actually.

About 30-40% of vitiligo cases are heritable.

I'm sorry to hear that. My mother suggest to me to wear mascara on my eye lashes (white because of vitilgo) but I have better success just telling peeps what it is. I understand that you're 16 and I'm 29 and there's a slight difference there, but be proud of your body and it's identification marks.

This goes to you and everybody else: thank you for the kind words, I appreciate it.

How quickly does it spread for you?

Age 1-12 it didn't spread at all. Around thirteen years it rapidly spread for about 12 months, covering big chunks of mostly my belly and thighs, but there are also other small spots all around my body. Then it toned down again, for approximately 3 years, and now it seems like we're at it again. Within a few months it has developed a big spot on my right knee, and is starting to develop a similar one to the left leg too.

Do you have segmental or non segmental?

Non-segmental, unfortunately.

What is the difference?

To my knowledge segmental vitiligo only appears on one side of your body (left or right), for example only on your left leg. It usually spreads for approximately 1 year, and then stops.

Non-segmental makes you lose pigment pretty much everywhere, and usually spreads, stops spreading, starts again, stops, and so on for your whole lifetime.

Although, it is possible for vitiligo to just suddenly stop for good - it's even possible that all the patches will re-pigment automatically. Reasons are unknown..

Do you ever listen to Krizz Kaliko? He has the same condition and is an amazing singer/rapper/entertainer!

I remember the name, I have to check it out now :P