According to MedicineNet, vitiligo is a disorder in which white patches of skin appear on different parts of the body. This happens because the cells that make pigment (color) in the skin are destroyed.These cells are called melanocytes (ma-LAN-o-sites). Vitiligo is seen as an autoimmune disease.
These diseases are said to occur when a persons immune system mistakenly attacks some part of their body, vitiligo can affect the mucous membranes such as the tissue inside the mouth, nose and eye. Although the real cause of vitiligo is not known, researchers think that the melanocytes destroy themselves, other researchers are of the opinion that a single event such as sunburn or emotional distress can cause vitiligo. When a person starts to develop vitiligo, symptoms such as loss of skin color in form of depigmentation or white patches of skin in any location on the body begins to occur. Although, there is no cure yet to this condition, some medical treatment can reduce the severity of the condition but it is very difficult to cure.
This almost felt like a medical class, but you need to understand the skin disorder for you to appreciate the importance of what these women are doing on social media. Asides from watching your body go through changes you never expected, virtiligo can have emotional and psychological consequences on a person. You start feeling the need to cover all your body parts, as a lady it can cause low self esteem as most people no longer see themselves as normal. Asides from the personal struggles you go through accepting this new chapter in your life, the outside world makes it so difficult by adding a lot of pressure on you, for instance, the stares you get on a daily basis alone can bring about low self esteem, the discrimination and stress can bring about emotional hearth break which would cause the condition to persist.
Among-st all this, body positivity movements are making things a lot easier, as people are beginning to be more comfortable in their skin, irrespective of the skin color. One of the body positivity movement is the vitiligo ladies displaying their skin proudly on Instagram. These women are tired of staying indoors and being looked at as abnormal, they have not only released powerful images to back up this campaign but they are opening up to the world about their struggles, you know why? because their skin does not define who they are and we are totally for that movement and that is why we would celebrating people with vitiligo all through the month of June.
These women have taken to Instagram with hashtags such as, #vitiligopride, #girlswithvitiligo and #vitiligansofinstagram, they are not only sharing their vitiligo experiences on Instagram but they are unconsciously building a community of support to the a person with vitiligo. Take a look at some of our favorite photos on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfdlFEYFrHp/?taken-by=livingdappled
https://www.instagram.com/p/Be8JYDalxA-/?taken-by=livingdappled
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgW0f3MlsGL/?taken-by=marian_devos
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgXmFdrFre-/?taken-by=marian_devos
https://www.instagram.com/p/BggqE27g8XQ/?taken-by=girlswithvitiligo
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgRFlx_Hkb1/?taken-by=livingdappled
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgWp5Y_Hnot/?taken-by=livingdappled
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgEhy2nl_49/?taken-by=girlswithvitiligo
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfATAAElrDo/?taken-by=girlswithvitiligo
https://www.instagram.com/p/BeTDSiVlwMg/?taken-by=livingdappled
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfooNojAQK7/?taken-by=my_patronus_is_a_dolphine
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdVt4G1jvz7/?taken-by=livingdappled
REFERENCE: www.medicinenet.com
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