Topic: The causes of vitiligo, it's impact in the society and

adaptation to the disease by its victims.

Introduction
For years skin has been our first protective clothing despite modernisation. A little irritation,
a little rash can cause discomfort and put one at unease even if it is only temporary. One will
always find ways to treat their skin and protect their clothing, but not all of us can be able to
achieve this. There is a familial tendency that skin enhances our appearance and skin colour
adds to this enhancement

Lack of melanin, which is the pigment in the skin, resulting in a long-term condition where
pale white patches develop on the skin. lt can affect any area of the skin, but it commonly
happens on the face, neck, hands and in skin creases. The disease causes loss of skin colour
in blotches. It occurs when pigment producing cells die or stop functioning.

The cause of this disease may be genetic, this means that it is not possible to predict the
chance that other family members might get the disease. About 25% to 50% of people with
this disease have a relative with the exact same condition and about 6% have siblings with
the condition.

Problem statement
Melanin is produced in the skin by skin cells called melanocytes and it gives your skin its
colour. In this condition there are not enough working melanocytes to produce enough
melanin in your skin. This causes white patches to develop on your skin, the affected area
usually has sharp margins of white patches. lt is more noticeable in people with darker skin.

People with this disease also tend to be more likely to have another autoimmune disease in
their like thyroid disorders and some types of anaemia in their system. For people who
inherit this disease genetically there are two types the heterozygous and the homozygous.
The homozygous recessive individuals have two recessive alleles of the condition in which
the individual displays the condition in early years and may actually die from it.
Heterozygous individuals have what we term “genetic load” i.e. the existence within a
population of disadvantageous alleles. When disadvantageous alleles carried in a
heterozygous individual they confer a selective advantage on the phenotype. Any increase
in a recessive alleles in a population as a result of harmful mutations will increase genetic
load of the population.
Mutant alleles will be distributed throughout the gene pool by random fertilisation, gene
flow will occur.

Justification

The condition is fast growing in Southern Africa with no proper reason as to how it finally
occurs, speculations and mere hypothesis are on the rise but always have a dead end when
it comes to this disease.

At first the most of the victims are born normally with no signs of the disease and even
trying to test it may show negative results in the first years, however as the years progress
the disease becomes predominant and begins to show. Victims of the disease are of primary
concern because they are stigmatised for having the condition. Society is not willing to
accept this condition as a disease like any other such as HIV and AIDS, Cancer and any other
common disease.

When it comes to discrimination and societal injustice, the disease mimics albinism ,non-
victims will dissociate their company from those affected with the disease, in most cases
rumours of the disease are commonly associated with witchcraft which is not true at all
,even children with the condition are said to be practicing witchcraft because of
superstitions. Victims have no joy following their abandonment and isolation from their own
relatives and friends and the community at large. It is clear that society needs to be
educated about this disease just like how they get educated about HIV and AIDS , Cancer
etc.

The other major issue is the expense of medication to treat the disease. Like I highlighted
earlier on the victims have no support like HIV patients who get free medication and
support from family and friends who make sure the they are compliant to the drug, the
medication for this disease is expensive ,most patients cannot afford it which is why it
progresses fast in them.

The condition can lead to emotional distress as a result of alienation, and loss of self-
confidence since the protective defining pigmentation will be wearing off.