Vitiligo treatment is not easy. It entails a lot of constancy and patience until results are achieved.
As we have commented on other occasions, according to the information managed by the Association for Vitiligo Patients (Aspavit), up to 90% of sufferers do not receive any treatment.
The Spanish Academy of Dermatology and Venerology (AEDV) insists upon the importance of proactive dermatologists that encourage their patients to treat their vitiligo, because, as they comment, “despite vitiligo not having a cure, it can be treated, especially if the outbreaks are caught early on”.
The AEDV emphasises the importance for patients to receive care and follow-up by a dermatologist, and to complete their treatment.
Vitiligo treatment should not only address the illness but also the characteristics of each patient and his/her personal environment. The treatment required for a patient that lives in an area with abundant exposure to sunlight all year round is vastly different to that needed for someone that lives in a country in which phototherapy is necessary to continue vitiligo treatment during the winter months.
Treatment for vitiligo is long (to perceive results it should last between 6 and 24 months) and requires a combined line of treatment, aimed at stopping the de-pigmentation of the skin and re-pigmenting affected areas.
To know which treatment is best suited to your type of vitiligo, it is important to distinguish between vitiligo that affects more extensive areas and with hair, such as legs, arms and trunk, and focal vitiligo, which is characterised by localised patches (hands, face, genital area, etc.).
