This year the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milano will host the First World Vitiligo Congress, between 23-24 September.

Pigment cells are present in the inner ear and play a vasomotor function. Melanin,  a compound secreted by pigment cells facilitates the passage of substances from one side to the other of the inner ear and helps maintain cell membrane equilibrium.

On the 26'th of August, The Today Show ran a segment a vitiligo. It featured Darcel de Vlugt, a 23 year old girl that was born black and lost all her pigment due to vitiligo.

Hedvig Lindahl is a 26 year old Swedish football player who currently plays for Göteborg football club in Damallsvenskan. She has been regularly convoked for the Swedish national football team and won the Goalie of the year award in 2004 and 2005. She has played in two Olympics and won several medals in national competitions.

Hedvig has had vitiligo since she was little and agreed to answer some questions about how it impacted her life and career.

I often noticed people as well as medical professionals misspelling the name of our skin disorder. Probably the most common spell error accounts for the horrific "vitaligo".

Having a look at a recent press release I found out that a Loyola University Hospital researcher is focusing her research on finding a treatment for vitiligo. The interesting part is that she says this could also lead to a treatment for melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

Prostaglandin E2 is of the prostaglandins, a group of hormone-like substances that participate in a wide range of body functions such as the contraction and relaxation of smooth muscle, the dilation and constriction of blood vessels, control of blood pressure, and modulation of inflammation.