Reality Check

Reality is right treatment from right doctor in right time for right duration in right way in a right patient with right patch will surely achieve right results.
Detecting vitiligo early and treating it with right approach is essential.
When you get rid of vitiligo it is important to maintain vitiligo free status with correct lifestyle and skin care.
You need to do reality check about your vitiligo and its treatment.
Since how long you are having vitiligo?
Treating vitiligo early gives better chances of long lasting recovery with minimal intervention
Are you getting treatment from vitiligo specialist?
It is important to get treatment from a specialist who is doing exclusive vitiligo treatment considering the complexity of vitiligo. Thorough knowledge of different scenarios in vitiligo is essential to treat vitiligo.
Do you know the type of vitiligo?
Vitiligo has various types and treatment and it’s response depends on the type. Segmental vitiligo usually don’t respond satisfactorily to medical management and responds completely to cellular transplantation. Generalised vitiligo might need combination of medical and surgical treatments to achieve complete clearance.
Whether your vitiligo is spreading or not?
Treatment depends whether your vitiligo is spreading or not. Spreading vitiligo needs treatments which achieves stabilisation. Stable but refractory vitiligo needs cellular replenishment procedures.
Are you taking particular treatment just out of frustrations?
Taking treatment out of frustrations may not be successful in every cases. More than getting improvement with particular treatment, one needs to understand their vitiligo and know how the particular treatment will work in them.
Are you taking particular treatment because some one who referred that treatment got relief from that?
Vitiligo has different facets of presentation, so every treatment won’t work in every situation. The treatment which is successful in some may not be effective in your vitiligo. If some treatment was not effective in others, it need not achieve failed response in you. Vitiligo treatment is best when it is individualised.
Do you know your vitiligo?
Most of the vitiligo sufferer don?t know about their condition much.Even if they know they will be having lot of misconceptions. It is better to know your vitiligo before deciding your treatment options.
Do you know about the treatment?
Most of the vitiligo sufferers take treatment out of the motive of getting rid of their patches. It is understandable but they don?t use logic and just expect magic to happen. Either they are guided by family/friends/another vitiligo sufferer or by watching advertisements in various media. It is most important to understand about the vitiligo treatment, how it works, why it works, how long it takes, what to expect, why it is used in you, what are the side effects if any etc before considering treatment. Don?t blindly follow treatments.
Do you have refractory vitiligo?
Refractory vitiligo is defined as patches with out reservoir of precursor cells or cells(melanocytes). When there is no stem cells and/or melanocytes in your white patch or patch has white hairs or no hairs then such a situation arises. In refractory vitiligo celluar replenishment is the best option to achieve re pigmentation rather than depending on different types of medical managements. All types of medical management options fail invariably in refractory vitiligo.
Are you taking a particular treatment for long with out any significant improvement just because it is safe?
There are vitiligo sufferer who take particular treatment for long duration with out achieving much improvement. Their defence is that their vitiligo is stable and treatment is safe for long term use. However, one has to understand that such treatments do modify the normacy of skin and make it resistant for future effective treatment. It is important to decide where to stop and where to re start the treatment
Do you have any metabolic risk factors?
Vitiligo is associated with metabolic disorders and vitamin deficiencies. These limitations can make your vitiligo worse and also your treatment in effective. So, identifying underlying risk factors is essential in fighting vitiligo successfully.