VITILIGO Friends
A Vitiligo Support Community of FRIENDS
What do you see?
What do you see when you see me?
What are you looking at?
Are you looking at me?
What's with those EYES?
Do I look like you?
Are you curious?
Do I make you sick?
ARE you NEXT?
.....You should have questions for the medical community - Do you? Do you care to know? Could YOU...?
Here's a Talk with a Doctor.....(Los Angeles, CA)
Randy: What do YOU believe to be the root cause of vitiligo?
Dr_Grimes: Well, I view vitiligo as a heterogeneous condition....there are multiple causes and pathways that can cause the destruction of melanocytes (pigment cells).
Dr_Grimes: For MOST patients, perhaps as high as 50 or 60%, it is auto-immune based. You can inherit the tendency or susceptibility...just like other auto-immune disorders.
Dr_Grimes: But there are also environmental triggers. I think that this clearly is a cause for SOME people. Exposure to certain environmental chemicals can cause vitiligo...drugs can induce vitiligo...such as a response to penicillin and other drug reactions.
More QUESTIONS
A Questionnaire from: Vitiligo Support International
Here are my personal answers:
1.) Tell me, what’s been your personal experience with vitiligo?Not good. Having the cashier at grocery store put my change down on the counter - hurts.
2.) Think back to when you were first diagnosed with vitiligo, what was that like?
It was awful. Just to think of myself as disfigured - hurts.
3.) How can one cope with the emotional and psychological aspects of vitiligo?
Dive into GOD and the things that pleases him, that’ll work.
4.) How would you describe the obstacles of living with vitiligo?
HARD, it limit my going out, but having a loving family and great friends is so key.
5.) What options are available for you – in terms of support?
There are really NO support locally that I have found. So I have put together this website and it has been a GREAT source of strength. Also, having Vitiligosupport.com and my church family, they are my biggest support
