How to diagnose vitiligo

Vitiligo is a relatively common skin disease, which is extremely harmful to human health. This disease is relatively stubborn and there is currently no complete cure. Once vitiligo is discovered, if it can be diagnosed early, the earlier the treatment, the better the effect will be. As an individual, if some white spots appear on the skin, especially on exposed areas of skin, you should pay attention and go to the hospital for appropriate examinations.

How to diagnose vitiligo

1. Blood test

It is necessary to do some blood tests before or during the treatment of vitiligo, which can detect abnormalities or potential visceral lesions and find out the causes, which can improve the cure rate and facilitate the recovery of vitiligo.

(1) Blood gas analysis: pH value measurement. Comparing 100 patients with vitiligo with 100 normal controls, the average pH value of patients with vitiligo was 7.3650, while that of normal controls was 7.3888. The blood pH value of patients with vitiligo was slightly lower than that of normal controls.

(2) Routine blood test: According to a survey conducted by Beijing Shi En Vitiligo Hospital, most patients with vitiligo have anemia, leukopenia and thrombocytopenia in their routine blood test.

2. Trace elements

Trace element testing showed that copper or copper-blue protein in the blood and skin of vitiligo patients were lower than healthy standards. Moreover, research has confirmed that tyrosinase uses copper ions as a cofactor, and its activity is closely related to copper ions. Tyrosinase is a key enzyme in melanin synthesis, which initiates the cascade reaction of converting tyrosinase into melanin biopolymers. Therefore, trace element testing is an essential procedure when examining patients with vitiligo. 3. Wood lamp inspection Wood lamp is very helpful in judging subtle differences in pigmentation. Melanin absorbs ultraviolet rays across the entire band. If the melanin is reduced, the refraction is strong and the color appears lighter. When melanin increases, the refraction becomes weaker and the color appears darker. Wood's lamp can be used to check the depth of melanin in the skin. For example, when checking pigment damage in the epidermis (such as freckles), the pigment can become darker when irradiated, while the pigment in the dermis has no such reaction. Based on this, the location of the melanin can be determined. Under Wood's lamp, the changes in epidermal pigmentation of vitiligo are much more obvious under visible light, while the changes in dermal pigmentation are not obvious under Wood's lamp.

3. Inspection of German Oman wood lamp:

Check the degree of damage of white spots: basal cell layer, spinous cell layer, granular cell layer, clear layer, stratum corneum. According to the disease occurrence in different layers, use different culture medium and plant different epidermal layers.

4. Immune abnormality examination:

There are T cell suppressors, anti-thyroid peroxidase antibodies, and anti-thyroglobulin antibodies.

5. Detection of the degree of melanocyte deficiency:

Atomic force microscopy was used to observe the surface morphology of human epidermal melanocytes (MC) and keratinocytes (KC) cultured alone and in co-culture, as well as the effect of α-melanocyte stimulating hormone (α-MSH) on the cell surface morphology.

6. Anti-melanocyte antibody detection:

To detect anti-melanocyte IgG antibodies in the serum of patients with vitiligo and analyze their relationship with disease activity and onset type.

7. Microcirculatory disorder detection

Fluorescence microscopy technology (breaking through the limitations of microblood flow status, vascular permeability, tissue perfusion, etc.) Location: There are many locations for peripheral microcirculation examination, including nail folds, bulbar conjunctiva, tongue tip, lips, gums, etc., among which fingernail fold microcirculation examination and bulbar conjunctiva microcirculation examination are more common.