Will Vitiligo Cause Psychological Problems to Children Suffering from It?

Vitiligo will cause painless and non-itchy white patches on the patient's skin, generally, these white patches will not bring physical harm to the patient's body. Because of this, some patients do not care much about it and do not treat the disease in time. Since children are young, the white patches that appear on their bodies are generally difficult to find, if parents do not pay timely attention to the child's physical condition, and ignore the white patches on their skin, when the vitiligo disease spread, it will bring great harm to the children.

Because the common consciousness has not been fully formed in young children, they often do not have complex mental activities, and their cognitive development is still relatively low, basic unconscious and in the intuitive action stage. Their reaction to the disease sometimes may be through the detection of parental fear, anxiety, anger, and sadness. They interpret the illness as a loss of parental care, thus leading to anger, worry, and behavioral deterioration.

Children entering the maturity stage have rapid cognitive development, already have abstract memory, abstract thinking is also rapidly developed, and by late childhood, have considerable thinking skills and deeper emotional experiences. Children at this stage may develop an inferiority complex if they cannot fully grasp knowledge and skills in sync with their peers. Preschoolers are generally more experienced with illness and have more coping skills than younger children, so they show a greater sense of control and ability to deal with the level of treatment and stressful situations.

At this stage, if the child is not told that treatment of vitiligo requires long-term medication to heal, children this stage will understand vitiligo as permanent and irreversible, and thus will become fearful and disappointed with the disease.

If parents do not promptly relieve the child's heart, it will seed a negative impact on the development of the child's mind and character, so that the child becomes introverted, withdrawn, with low self-esteem, irritable, extreme, etc. So parents should usually pay more attention to the psychology of children with vitiligo, if the child is introverted with bad emotions, parents need to give them timely caring, communicate with the child, and bring more encouragement and comfort to the child, sometimes they need to talk to their child’s teacher and help the child healthy growth together.

Vitiligo is especially harmful to children if they are not treated in time, and if parents do not pay attention to the existence of vitiligo, it can even bring bad effects on the future and life of children. For the child's health, happy childhood, and a bright future, parents must promptly take their children who are suffering from vitiligo to the regular hospital for diagnosis and treatment.