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.
Her disease began as a few white spots on her forearm at the age of five. As the years passed, she developed patches on her legs and forehead, that later spread to the rest of her body. By the age of 17 Darcel's transformation was complete.
Her family believes that the disease was triggered by the stress of moving at such a young age (Darcel's father worked for the UN and they traveled all around the world)
Miss de Vlugt's skin is very sensitive to sunlight so she constantly protects herself wearing a sunscreen with a sun protection factor of 100.
A few years back, Darcel was given the option to bleach the few black patches she still had but she decided against it, hoping that all the treatments would eventually work. Unfortunately that was not the case. Her body is now all white, not a single spot of black pigment left.
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Debra Earling
said:
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... My mother suffered from vitiligo and there were even doctors who would ask her if she had been burned. Some of the women my mother worked with began referring to her as the pinto pony. She was terribly hurt by these comments but what hurt her even more was the loss of her identity. My mother was a fullblood Flathead Indian and when she lost the pigment in her skin she was not recognized by other Indian people. When people would meet her and my non-Indian father they started to ask who is the Indian--him or you? After a traumatic operation for a perforated bowel she lost almost all of her skin pigment in one year. I used to tell her she was like the sacred animals of the old stories--she transformed and knew what it was like to live both as an Indian and a white person. Her life was a miracle. |
Paula
said:
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... I Have had vitiligo since the age of 19. I am now 64. My hands are totally white, my legs and arms are white. I am caucasion, but now really white. I live with it and am not bothered by it. My husband doesn't see it any more after 42 years of marriage. It is a minor disease with all the devastating things out there today . I am blessed to be healthy otherwise. |
