Symptoms

Vitiligo signs include:

• Patchy loss of skin color, which usually first appears on the hands, face, and areas around body openings and the genitals
• Premature whitening or graying of the hair on your scalp, eyelashes, eyebrows or beard
• Loss of color in the tissues that line the inside of your mouth and nose (mucous membranes)

Vitiligo can start at any age, but usually appears before age 30.

Depending on the type of vitiligo you have, it may affect:

• Nearly all skin surfaces. With this type, called universal vitiligo, the discoloration affects nearly all skin surfaces.
• Many parts of your body. With this most common type, called generalized vitiligo, the discolored patches often progress similarly on corresponding body parts (symmetrically).
• Only one side or part of your body. This type, called segmental vitiligo, tends to occur at a younger age, progress for a year or two, then stop.
• One or only a few areas of your body. This type is called localized (focal) vitiligo.
• The face and hands. With this type, called acrofacial vitiligo, the affected skin is on the face and hands, and around body openings, such as the eyes, nose and ears.

It's difficult to predict how your disease will progress. Sometimes the patches stop forming without treatment. In most cases, pigment loss spreads and eventually involves most of your skin. Occasionally, the skin gets its color back.

When to see a doctor

See your doctor if areas of your skin, hair or mucous membranes lose coloring. Vitiligo has no cure. But treatment might stop or slow the discoloring process and return some color to your skin.