Essay On Vitiligo

Human beings are no exception to biological evolution. Like other organisms around the world, humans have significantly changed overtime and have developed all sorts of diverse characteristics. One noticeable characteristic of human beings is the variation of skin

It develops in the melanocytes, which are cells that produce melanin that gives the skin its pigment or color and protects tissues from ultra violet radiation. Dark skinned people have more melanin than light skinned people do. For this reason, Melanomia is more frequent in light skinned people. (“Detailed description “, 2000, P.2

Generally this means a pleasing appearance is not a guide to character. In this case, we

In 1665, a scientist named Marcello Malpighi came up with the idea that the skin coloring was mainly dteremined from the granules of the stratum mucosum, not by those of the stratum corneum of the dermis. In 1879, Moritz Kaposi was the first man to observe the lack in pigmentation in the rete pegs of vitiligo. Rete pegs are epithelial extensions that project into the connective tissue in the skin and the mucous membrane. About 4000 years of knowledge about vitiligo has been recorded and observed from the time man first noticed the white patches appearing on the skin until the melanocyte was determined as the actor for causing the depigmentation in the skin.

Vitiligo is a continual and long term skin problem that causes white depigmentation on your skin. The white patches appear due to melanocytes within the skin dying off. Melanocytes are cells that reproduce causing pigment, if you lack melanocytes then you will have white patches. Melanin, which gives your skin color also protect you from the sun’s UV rays. Vitiligo affects people differently; there is not an exact place where you can have it. You can have it all over your body, hair, mouth, and even eyes.

Vitiligo does not happen over-night, the skin discoloration whitens over time with cycles of cessation and progressive whitening. Early precursors to vitiligo include premature whitening of the hair on the scalp , loss of color in the mucosa, loss of color or change in the retina. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, generalized vitiligo “often begins on hands, fingertips, wrists, around the eyes or mouth, or on the feet.”

Vitiligo can appear at any age but is estimated before the age of 20 years old.

“Psoriasis is a long-term (chronic) skin problem that causes skin cells to grow too quickly, resulting in thick, white silvery, or red patches of skin.” (WebMD, 2012) To uneducated individuals, they may look at a person with Psoriasis and think to stay away from them as it might be contagious. This disorder is not contagious, but it does affect a person with Psoriasis to go through social exclusion and discrimination. A mistaken trigger in the immune system is said to be the one of the causes of rapid production of skin cells in the body. Patients with Psoriasis produce new skin cells between 2-6 days. That is a little over four times less than the time they are normally produced, which is 21-28days. “Psoriasis affects approximately 3% of

I chose my topic because I have a skin condition, and I thought it might be a good idea to research different skin disorders. I have eczema on my foot and it was a very irritable skin disorder to go through. But thanks to the miracle of modern day medicine, all I'm left with is a scar and it is barely noticeable. Since that's my skin disorder I will begin with eczema and work my way down to pressure sores.

1. Light-colored skin and a history of sun exposure is the main cause of this type of cancer. Men are affected more often than women.

“You would look so much prettier with your hair straight!” is a comment my sister of mixed descent has been receiving from her classmates since childhood. Straight hair is a Eurocentric beauty standard that has been pushed onto my lighter skinned sister for most of her life. I am of a darker complexion however and therefore am complimented often on my naturally curly hair. This leads to the question; do black beauty standards differ from white ones? The answer to this query is explored in Maxine Craig’s work Ain’t I a Beauty Queen? She claims that in many regards, though not all, the answer is yes. While Craig does a good job of defining the historical moments that lead to black beauty standards today, she lacks an explanation as to why darker skin tones are stigmatized the way they are and neither does she factor in how many people consider personality when determining beauty.

Human pigmentation is influenced by hemoglobins within blood vessels in the skin, carotene and melanins. Melanin, the basis of pigmentation, can be found in the forms of eumelanin and phaeomelanin. Eumelanin is the brown-black pigment located in the skin, hair, and eyes. Phaeomelanin is a yellow to reddish-brown pigment found in small quantities within the skin, eyes, and red hair. Because of these two pigments, to a greater or lesser degree, we have the variation

Although very informative, I nearly lost interest in the subject as it was a bit dry, however, with the incorporation of pictures, I was able to grasp the science of how this structure functions and the significance of melanin, “the most important substance imparting color to skin” (9). Melanin is formed in cells called melanocytes, located between the dermis and epidermis; these cells produce different amounts of melanin and this is the main reason why people have different skin colors (11,14). The author breaks down the scientific terms in a clear and coherent

Kumar and his associates (2010) demonstrated that LXR-α was also expressed in melanocytes and it was up-regulated in the melanocytes from perilesional skin of vitiligo patients in comparison to non lesional skin, suggesting that LXR-α might be

Our skin is the largest part of our body and needs constant care and miniaturization to achieve a healthy glow. First thing to healthy-looking skin is maintaining an internal regimen; drinking lots of water and eating fruits and veggies will keep skin nourished, moisturized and blemish free.