Learn about Vitiligo and Vascular Disease

Host: It’s a risking disease but one that’s quite conspicuous, those suffering vitiligo like the late Michael Jackson often can’t hide the fact that they’re losing the natural color of their skin. And nobody yet knows what causes this depigmentation.

Dr. James Spencer: Vitiligo is a chronic skin disease where one loses the pigment producing cells in localized areas.

Host: The condition still has scientist’s baffled but it’s known to be an auto-immune response to inflammatory conditions in the body.

Damian Britain: It happens at anytime in the person’s life and it can be a very small patch or it can develop all over the body.

Host: As with most auto-immune responses, intense prolonged psychological stress may be one trigger for vitiligo. A phototherapy utilizing UV B rays in week short bursts is proving an effective treatment for the condition. Patches especially around the face and the neck are targeted three times a week with a gradual increasing intensity with each session.

Dr. James Spencer: This laser gives off ultraviolet light which are the tanning rays but it gives it in the form of laser light which is much more concentrated and happens very, very quickly so we can treat briefly localized areas for short amount of time and we find it in the majority of people, we can repigment their skin safely and simply.

Host: In some cases, a solution called Psoralen is used in conjunction with photothrapy. It can be taken as a pill or soaked into the skin prior to treatment. If phototherapy fails, steroid based creams maybe administered.

Some people with pale skins find that they can kind of flush their condition by just not going out into the sun so that they remain consistently pale all over. But others with a naturally olive skin might taught to have all of their pigment chemically removed to make themselves evenly pale all over.

If you’re not quite ready for that kind of irreversible treatment, there’s a range of very effective dermatologically tested cosmetics that offers complete coverage. They’re easy to apply, just like a commercial cosmetic concealer face and powder. After having your skin perfectly color matched by a professional, you’ll be ready to walk out and face the world.

The veins and the arteries in our body are like an extensive river system serving to transport goods such as nutrients and oxygen to remote destinations. Just like any river system though, your veins and arteries can become shocked with pollutants impeding the flow of blood and stopping the delivery of essential nutrients. When your circulatory system becomes blocked in an area outside of the brain, this is referred to as vascular disease.

The most common type of vascular disease is called Peripheral Vascular Disease. This is when either a vessel in the arms or legs becomes blocked. If it’s a leg vessel, it’s probably blocked due to atherosclerosis. Perhaps it is a result of smoking. In fact smoking is one of the major courses of vascular disease. Smokers with advanced vascular disease will often have to have toes or legs amputated if doctors can’t figure out a way to reorganize and cross connect vessels in order to avoid a major blockage. It’s a heroine experience waiting in a hospital bed weeks at a time as doctors try to puzzle out just how to avoid giving your leg the job. You would think this would be a major incentive to give up the fags. Oddly enough, in most cases it isn’t.

If you were a smoker and prone to leg aches and cramping particularly as you climb stairs or heels, but find that the pain goes away when you rest, you should get checked out by a specialist today.

Genetic scientists are currently studying which genes are linked to vitiligo and those prone to the condition.