How to self-examine and identify vitiligo

Vitiligo is a disease with relatively obvious onset. White spots often appear on exposed parts of the skin, such as the face, limbs, etc., which seriously affects a person's appearance and often causes negative emotions such as inferiority complex and depression. If vitiligo can be treated in time when it just occurs, the effect is relatively good. Therefore, it is also important to understand vitiligo and self-examination and identification.

How to self-examine and identify vitiligo

1. Most white spots of vitiligo are distributed symmetrically

There are also many arranged along nerve segments. In the early stages, they are mostly the size of a fingernail to a coin, nearly round, oval or irregular in shape, with obvious boundaries, and some have edges surrounded by pigment bands. Except for loss of pigmentation, there is no skin atrophy or desquamation in the white spots. The hair on the white spots may lose pigment and turn completely white.

2. The number of early depigmented spots is small, usually only 1 to 2

The symptoms of vitiligo are generally obvious and easy to identify, but some white spots at the beginning of the disease may be difficult to distinguish and are often ignored by patients because of their unclear symptoms. Therefore, it is important to understand the manifestation characteristics of early white spots of vitiligo, which are generally manifested as: no subjective symptoms such as pain or itching; small number of depigmented spots, usually only 1 to 2, and most of them appear on exposed skin; except for the loss of pigmentation, the skin at the depigmented spots is the same as the surrounding skin, without changes such as inflammation, desquamation or atrophy.

3. The number of white spots is uncertain, and they gradually increase and expand.

It may be confined to a certain part of the body or distributed in a certain nerve segment, with little change or disappearance on its own. In most patients, the number and size of white spots gradually increase. Adjacent white spots will merge with each other to form large irregular patches that spread throughout the body like a map. Sometimes normal skin remains among the white spots, causing them to be mistaken for pigmentation. Some patients also present with punctate hypochromic spots with obvious boundaries when the disease occurs.

Some new white spots have a raised dark red inflammatory ring on the edge, which can last for several weeks. This early change often lacks subjective symptoms and is easily ignored. Since the treatment of vitiligo in its early stages is relatively easy, when white spots appear on the body, they should be distinguished in a timely manner. If they cannot be distinguished, you should go to a relevant hospital for an effective diagnosis. You should not ignore the white spots because they are small in area or number.