Dr Udim Essien, a Dermatologist with the Garki Hospital, Abuja, on Friday said stigmatisation has remained one of the challenges facing people living with skin diseases, such as vitiligo.
Vitiligo is a skin condition in which a small or some parts of the body loses its pigments or the melanin which gives the skin its colour, making the skin becoming whitish or yellowish in colour.
Essien told with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that: “The truth is that the major problem about vitiligo is the psychological component, people see a patch on the skin that looks whitish, yellowish and people may begin to think, does this man have leprosy, does this man have some other thing.
“There is always that problem of stigmatisation, there is always that problem of the social component, the psychological component, that is the major problem with vitiligo,” he said.
Essien said it could be hereditary, stating that children whose parents had the disorder are more likely to develop vitiligo later in life.
He said people who developed vitiligo usually noticed white patches on their skin, saying that those patches are more commonly found on sun-exposed areas of the body, including the hands, feet, arms, face, and lips.
Essien said that the prevalence rate in Nigeria was between 0.8 per cent and 8 per cent, stressing that it is not a life threatening ailment.
He advised Nigerians on the need for proper skincare, noting that Nigerians do not take special care of their skin.
“We have sunshine virtually everyday of the month and once that pigment which is usually protective from the damaging rays of the sun is lost on a particular area of the skin, there is an increased rate of developing skin cancers from such places.
“We don’t see much of skin cancers, because that pigment in us protects us, but when that pigment is lost, the damaging effect of the sun can be extreme on that patch.
“And that is one of the reasons why we are encouraging everybody who has vitiligo to cover all those areas that don’t have such pigment with sunscreen,” Essien said.
He explained that there were different treatments which could go a long way in bringing back the pigment of the skin, ranging from therapies, the use of medication and skin transplants. (NAN)