How to Treat Segmental Vitiligo?

Segmental vitiligo is a chronic auto-immune disorder wherein the skin pigment producing cells called melanocytes are identified as foreign cells and attacked by our bodies immune system. The result is the degeneration of melanocytes resulting in white patches over the body. At Kayakalp Global Skin Clinic a dedicated team of VITILIGO SPECIALISTS is working towards bringing the best vitiligo treatment in India. Conventionally vitiligo is classified as segmental and non segmental vitiligo. Segmental vitiligo constitutes 5%-27.9% of all cases of vitiligo. It is a disease of childhood; the incidence of segmental vitiligo is significantly more in children (19%) as compared to adults (5%).In most patients, disease stabilizes by one year to 2 year irrespective of treatment and disease progression halts faster than non-segmental vitiligo.

Ayurvedic blood purifying herbs can help early recovery. This ‘self-limiting’ nature of the disease reduces the requirement of aggressive systemic therapy at the onset of the disease. Also there is considerably lower incidence of family history of vitiligo and association with autoimmune disorders in case of segmental vitiligo. This further suggests that autoimmunity may not be an important pathway for pathogenesis of segmental vitiligo.

The pattern of the lesions is what characterizes segmental vitiligo, yet there is no consensus regarding it .The general consensus being unilateral distribution of the lesions. since all new lesions start unilaterally, pattern of occurrence can therefore be an ambiguous criteria to diagnose segmental vitiligo. Leucotrichia (White hair )therefore be an ambiguous criteria to diagnose segmental vitiligo. Leucotrichia is a consistent feature of segmental vitiligo, and two studies by Lee et al, have reported leucotrichia to be present in all patients of segmental vitiligo, especially with the use of a digital portable microscope.

Proper ayurvedic treatment in early stages is very helpful in treating segmental vitiligo, however surgical treatments such as cellular grafting can be effective. Surgical treatment for vitiligo can be considered in two main categories: Grafting of melanocyte-rich tissue (tissue grafting) Grafting of melanocyte cells (cellular grafting). In recent years, surgical therapy as hair follicle autograft transplantation has been a hot topic in management of segmental vitiligo. Hair follicle transplantation was first introduced to initiate re-pigment vitiligo lesions in 1998. This procedure is based on the concept of existence of undifferentiated stem cells in the hair follicle, which forms an excellent reservoir of melanocytes for re-pigmentation. Therefore early recognition of segmental vitiligo can help to reassure the patient that it usually does not spread to other parts of the body, stabilizes early, and responds very well to surgical methods with probably a lower risk of recurrence. #vitiligotreatmentinindia #kayakalpglobal #vitiligotreatment