Vitiligo Related to Self-destructed of Melancytes

Vitiligo occurs when melanin-forming cells die or stop producing melanin, the pigment that gives your skin, hair and eyes color. The involved patches of skin become lighter or white. The vitiligo may be related to: a disorder in which your immune system attacks and destroys the melanocytes in the skin, Family history (heredity), a trigger event, such as sunburn, stress or exposure to industrial chemicals.

We know that the main function of the melancytes is to form melanin. Synthesis of Melanin plays a very important role in the normal skin color. When the melancytes dysfunction or the structured damaged, the formation of the melanin will reduce, but the melanin continue degrading and destructing. It will cause skin finally loss the pigment, lead to vitiligo. Large amount research show that the melancytes self-destructed is one of the factors cause the vitiligo.

Some scholar said that the onset of vitiligo is due to hyperactive of the melancytes. It makes the melancytes consumption and recession at early stage. It also may due to the intermediate products accumulate inside cells.

The immunity system will participate during the process of the melancytes self-destructed. The destroyed melancytes will as antigen to attack the melancytes itself. So the melancytes destroyed more and more, this will explain why the deep color have a higher chance to get this disease than the pale skin color people. It also will explain when the color is deep for normal skin which prone to have white patches.

The Beijing CASU vitiligo hospital analyzes 773 cases about vitiligo patients. We found that the 99.64% of vitiligo patients is easily to have new white patches especially on the end of the spring and beginning of the summer. 5.45% cases have the history of the sunburn, after the serious sunburn. This study also will strongly support the melancytes self-destructed theory.