Vitiligo: Etiopathogenesis and Clinical Characteristics

Vitiligo is a skin disease which can occur at any age, it is characterized by melanocyte destruction, it is manifested in the form of well-circumscribed, milky white patches of varying numbers and sizes, and although it is acquired, it can also be rarely congenital. Vitiligo is a multifactorial disease associated with genetic and non-genetic factors. Generally accepted view is the functional loss of melanocytes in the skin and its histochemical demonstration. Three basic theories have been put forward about the destruction mechanisms of melanocytes in vitiligo as autoimmune, neural and auto destruction. The most common form of vitiligo is depigmented macules which are surrounded by normal skin, completely amelanotic, milky or chalk white in colour with varying diameters, sharply circumscribed, round or oval, linear or irregular shapes. In the initial and active periods, hypopigmented areas may not be selected better than depigmented areas. Lesions grow slowly or rapidly centrifugally over time. Vitiligo macules and patches have sizes ranging from millimetres to centimetres. In fair-skinned patients, lesions cannot be seen without Wood light examination. In dark-skinned patients, the difference in contrast between the skin with vitiligo and the normal skin surrounding it is very pronounced. Although vitiligo lesions are generally asymptomatic, itching may occur especially in active lesions.