The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
Dietary Changes
Posted by Lou (Tyler, Tx) on 08/19/2012
★★★★★
Looks like there's a definite connection between vitiligo (and other autoimmune diseases) to gluten sensitivity and celiac's. Stop eating flour, wheat and bread products. There are also hidden sources of wheat in some sauces. Cereal too.
Coconut Oil
Posted by Dolly (West Des Moines, Ia) on 07/07/2012
Did it cure it eventually?
Ted's Remedies
Posted by Lou (Tyler, Tx) on 08/22/2011
Two dermatologists refused to give me a skin biopsy here. One said that I could try to rub grapeseed oil all over my body. Grapeseed oil is antifungal. I recently read an article about hydrogen peroxide not breaking down in the liver and converting to H20. The H202 (hydrogen peroxide) is also found in the skin layers, which does something to the langerhans cells, causing the melanocytes to die. (It's all too confusing for me. ) Anyway, I read that catalase breaks down the H202 and converts it to H20 and this calms down the autoimmune response. Pineapple (the real thing) contains catalase. I also read about a pineapple and shelled raw pumpkin seed cleanse using distilled water that gets rid of parasites (which I believe don't help the situation). Three days on this and no tooth brushing supposedly gets rid of the little critters. Google it.
Ted's Remedies
Posted by Lou (Tyler, Tx) on 08/22/2011
I read if you get black pepper essential oil and mix it with a carrier oil (coconut or sesame, etc.) it can help with repigmentation of white areas. Kelp is also good to take in capsule form. I also read that rubbing the skin with juice of basil leaves and lime juice helps the white patches, although another site said it was for skin lightening. The juice of celery leaves also contains psolarens. Someone said that Neem is good - capsule, soap and cream - sold in health food stores. I know Neem cleans the blood.
Ted's Remedies
Posted by Francisca (Michelbach-le-bas, Alsace, France) on 08/16/2011
Hi Lou, I don't really have vitiligo but I have more and more white stains on my skin (they don't join to form a big patch though) and would love to get rid of them but I don't think that it would work by getting my normal, darker color away but by getting the white stains to tan again or to get a normal color again so I suppose your idea wouldn't work on me? Because if I try to get rid of the brownish skin around the white patches I will have a whiter skin all over my legs while I am a tanned Southern European.
Ted's Remedies
Posted by Lou (Tyler, Tx) on 08/15/2011
Not sure if this will work for everyone, but I was reading about how to get shower tiles clean (caused by mold/fungus) and I read that if you mix lemon dishwashing liquid, vinegar and hot water together it will clean a shower. So, I decided to try it on my vitiligo. I made up a batch in a large plastic bowl. I used a loofah and scrubbed the darker areas. The skin became tacky (like the fungus was dissolving). Then I took a normal shower with citrus lime soap and shower gel. It seems to make the darker skin lighter. I had an ER physician comment on how good it looks last week! My skin feels softer too. I read that you need to use clean washcloths instead of scrubbies on the areas when you shower to prevent passing the fungus around. The idea is to loofah away the fungus and lather up with clean wash cloths. Rinse away!
Another idea is to try an anti-fungal bath.
ANTI-FUNGAL BATH
Lavender: 4 drops
Geranium: 1 drop
Tea Tree: 1 drop
Fill your bath tub, then add the essential oils. Add 1 - 2 cups of sea salts, mix well. Soak for a minimum of 20 minutes. Be sure to dry your skin well, especially between your toes and other cracks, where moisture can be trapped. (If you have a prescribed medication, apply after you are completely dry.)
I would follow up with virgin coconut oil or a lotion containing vitamins AC&E and COQ10. At least it will improve skin texture.
General Feedback
Posted by Mother Earth (Ks, Us) on 05/14/2010
"There may be a genetic connection between the skin condition Vitiligo and other autoimmune diseases, including autoimmune thyroid conditions such as Hashimoto's thyroiditis and Graves' disease.
Vitiligo is highly associated with other autoimmune diseases, including thyroid disease , pernicious anemia, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, lupus Addison's disease, and adult-onset autoimmune diabetes."
This info is from the new England Journal of Medicine March 22, 2007.
Neem Oil
Posted by Mandi (Groton, Ct) on 04/04/2010
Hi,
I have been diagonsed with vitiligo. have seen some white patches on face and hair. Has anyone been treated successfully with vitiligo. Dr has given me V-tar for application to the affected area once a week for 10 weeks.
Coconut Oil
Posted by Clarece (Norton, Oh, USA) on 11/04/2009
★★★★★
I have had small white patches on my hands and arms for several years, and over the last year they have gotten much larger. None of the home remedies I tried seemd to work, so I looked at the ingredients in the expensive herbal vitiligo cure formulas and noticed that they all contained the same base ingredient of coconut oil.
I purchased some virgin coconut oil and have been rubbing it into the white areas every morning and before bed every night for the past three weeks, and the areas are all turning pink and filling in.
Ted's Remedies
Posted by Nita (Somerset, Ky) on 11/02/2009
My daughter also has this condition and her doctor said it is tinea versicolor-a skin fungus. If the hair growing in the white patches still has color then the pigment isn't gone. We rub virgin coconut oil on the white patches and are now seeing normal skin color returning! Hope this helps.
Ted's Remedies
Posted by Veronica (New York, Usa) on 09/02/2009
I have a question for karen regarding her son's vitiligo diagnosis of being a fungus. can you please tell me how the doctor came about with this diagnosis and if he did any type of blood test? I have a 10 yr old daughter and her doctor has not done anything but keep on prescribing meds that have not worked and has not said anything about possible fungus. Your feedback is greatly appreciate it. I will only try on her natural remedies as i dont want to keep on putting creams on. anyone please let me know
Ted's Remedies
Posted by Karen (NY, New York) on 07/22/2009
Hello Ted and Earth Clinic, My son was also diagnose with this condition and the doctor said it was caused by fungus. My son was prescribed Miconazolnitraat which I am hesitant to use as he is 4 years old and the condition is on his face.
So far the cures that I have tried on EC have helped my family. However I have a question. Janet from NJ asked for a natural cure for her 10 year old daughter. You mentioned borax, H202 and baking soda. I have also noticed that baking soda is used with ACV and lemon juice. Why are these chemically made items considered and used in natural cures? I do not have specific doubts but just curious as i would not initially associate any of these item with a natural cure.
Your response will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you. Karen
Noni Juice
Posted by Gilda (Tegucigalpa, Honduras) on 04/02/2009
★★★★★
Noni Juice for Vitiligo
Applying noni fruit juice to the skin and drinking 1/2 cup to 1 full cup can also aid in combating this disease.
Neem Oil
Posted by Sara (Philadelphia, PA) on 02/22/2009
Please go through these links and you will have answer to your daughter's condition. Also for a steady treatment program, topically apply carrot juice to the patches 3 to 5 times in a day and give her half cup to full cup of carrot juice regularly for 40 days without any break religiously. Please do email me after 40 days about the progress and if needed further course of treatment.
Neem Oil
Posted by Raj (Chicago, USA) on 02/11/2009
★★★★★
Your daughter may have Vitiligo and it can be treated with two treatments. Your doctor can prescribe Protopic ointment and also she can take 2 "Neem" capsules per day. Neem is use for treatment of many screen diseases and it is also known as blood purifier. The Protopic has successfully done re-pigmentation of white patches in 2-3 months and it is non steroid medication. Neem may take up to six months before you can see any result.
Neem Oil
Posted by Becky (Columbus, GA,USA) on 01/10/2009
My daughter is three years old and she had small white patches when she was born, her dad is from the Phillipines, I am from america. the white spots have gotten bigger and more abundent. The doctors havd tried everything possible and can't get rid of them. Does any one know of anything that might work?
Dietary Changes
Posted by Ted (Bangkok, Thailand) on 08/01/2004 392 posts
★★★★★
...Dr Reading, an Australian doctor who cured a hundred Lupus [SLE] patients by [among other things] taking them off all grains except RICE and CORN. Dr Wright discussed the connection between a Lancet article recently reporting a link between the genetic marker HLA-B8 and 17 diseases with what he had learned from Dr Reading. All but one of the 17 diseases [Celiac Disease] arethought to be autoimmune diseases. Dr Wright deduced that if dietary restriction of gluten cured the one gene-linked disease known to have an external cause that perhaps all of the gene-linked diseases had an external cause and that it might just be gluten sensitivity!
I would bet on it!!
Here is the list of the diseases linked to the gene that might respond to restriction of gluten containing foods. My advice is that ANY patient with one of the following diagnoses be taken off ALL grain and ALL dairy products until their involvement is ruled out.
Addison's Disease
Autoimmune hemolytic anemia
Celiac disease
Childhood asthma
Chronic autoimmune hepatitis
Dermatitis herpetiformis
Grave's disease
Insulin dependent (type 1) Diabetes mellitus
Lupus erythematosis
Myesthenia gravis
Pernicious anemia [100% also suffer total lack of stomach acid]
Polymyalgia rheumatica
Scleroderma
Sjogren's syndrome
Thyrotoxicosis
Ulcerative colitis
Vitiligo
Dr Wright recommends the tTG test for gluten/gliadin sensitivity, a measure of tissue transglutaminase and supposedly the most sensitive test now available. Information from a website is included below for your convenience.
Other tests are the endomysial antibody test [EMA] for short lived antibodies and the antigliadin antibody [AGA] test for the longer lived IgA and IgG antibodies.
Be sure the patient has consumed gluten containing foods right up until test day or the tests might show negative even in gluten sensitive people.
