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Vitiligo is a disease which manifests with white patches on the skin but all white patches on the skin are not vitiligo. It is more commonly known as 'leucoderma' and is generally considered to be incurable. With recent developments however, and appropriate management almost every patient having vitiligo can be made to recover from his disease.
The disease occurs all over the world and affects almost every community, irrespective of the colour or the type of the skin. It is estimated that approximately 1 per cent of the world population suffers from vitiligo, though certain communities are known to have a higher incidence of this disease.
Vitiligo can start at any age between childhood and old age and occasionally even new-born babies have been noticed to have vitiligo (congenital vitiligo). However, white patches at birth are more likely to be due to something different, such as a birth mark (nevus achromicus),albinism (where the entire skin and eyes are white from birth), or piebaldism (fixed patches of white skin from birth onwards, which do not change at all). Even in adults, white patches can result from a variety of causes/reasons. All white patches therefore, are not vitiligo.
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