Leucoderma: Causes, Symptoms And Ayurvedic Treatment

It is a most common skin disorder. Leucoderma is a diseased skin condition in which gradual loss of melanin pigment occurs in the layers of skin and lastly this leads to white patches on the skin. This condition do not generally cause any organic harm. We can relate this with white patches or defective skin pigementation.

According to Ayurveda, leucoderma is termed as kilas, or svitra (safed daag). It is developed by dosha_dushya vikruti. This is a condition developed by the imbalance of vata dosha and bhrajaka pitta.The imbalance may be present in other combination of tridosha.

Mainly it is caused by not maintaining our health, not having proper food and drinks, irregular lifestyle, stress or other heavy mental pressure, sunburn, constipation, and it can also be developed as side effect of other allopathic medicines , infections, by exposure of depigmention agents and family history.

SYMPTOMS

• White patches
• Premature Development of grey eyelashes,hairs, and beard
• Color loss of mucosal membrane
• Single white spot to multipal white spots 
• skin lesions are usually most prominent on face hands and wrist 
• Mood disorders or stress can be seen in these patients

WHEN TO SEE YOUR DOCTOR FOR LEUCODERMA DISEASE?

• Depigmentation of skin
• Widespread loss of skin color
• Complains other than discoloration
• Stress because of these patches
• Side effect of any medication
• When these patches are spreading rapidly

CAUSES AND RISK FACTORS

RISK FACTORS-

• Family history
• Autoimmune diseases like 
• hyperthyroidism (Hashimoto’s thyroiditis)
• Alopecia areata
• Burn cases
• Infections
• Injured places in past

 PREVENTIONS

• Excessively sour foods should be avoided.
• All patients are recommend to restrict their intake of citrus food.
• Do not take nonveg, salt, curd, fruits with milk.
• Nutritional balance should be maintained.
• Avoid sunburn for that use lotions and creams.
• Add these minerals like iron,zink,copper in your food.

DIAGNOSIS

• Skin biopsy
• Blood test
• Physical examination by wood’s lamp

GENERAL TIPS

• Avoid alcohol
• Drink more water (from copper utensil)
• Avoid coffee,fish, red meat
• Take healthy diet with rich nutrients
• Yoga and meditation for stress
• Avoid tomatoes,pickels,citrus foods
• Maintain proper hygiene 
• Use sunscreen to avoid sunburn

Leucoderma Is usually a lifelong condition, it can not be cured completely but still there are some measures you can take to treat it and prevent it from worsening(includes eating and healthy diet) if condition is spreading rapidly contact dermatologist as soon as possible.

HOME REMEDIES

For external apply soak turmeric  powder(500gm) in approx 7 litres of water for 8-9 hours and then boil until it becomes half of the solution, then add 500ml mustard oil and use this daily on the patches.
You can make paste of bakuchi powder and coconut oil  and can directly apply.

• use of rock salt 
• You can take water soaked gram in morning without salt.
• Neem juice is also a good option.
• You can apply radish seed paste on affected areas.

WHAT TO AVOID

• Avoid intake of sour foods
• Nonveg
• Curd and alcohol too
• Coffe and citrus food
• Tomatoes and weat products
• Pickles
• Avoid opposite foods like fish and milk together.
• Avoid extreme cold or heat conditions.

WHAT  TO EAT

• Include bitter vegetable and bitter gourd in your diet.
• Leafy green vegetables 
• Root vegetables like carrots, radishes, beets.
• Intake of herbs and spices like basil, coriander leaves, clove, black pepper, cinnamon etc.
• Intake of adequate amount of water.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Q1.) What are the best treatments available for leucoderma.
Ans-The best treatments are to take care of your food(avoid opposite food) intake habbit and proper use of medications and light based therapies, practice meditation for stress.
Ayurveda treatment is effective but you need to manage your daily routine.

Q2.)What are the main symptoms of leucoderma?
Ans- color of skin may loss and can affect any part of body like mouth, eyes, ears, premature whitening or graying of the hairs on your scalp can be seen, white patches, stress, it can spread slowly,rapidly or not at all.

Q.3 Why does leucoderma develop?
Ans-Reason can be autoimmune, irregular food habits, family history of leucoderma,
Side effect of drugs etc.

Q.4 Can leucoderma be treated?
Ans- permanent cure isn’t there but treatment is available, some measures are there to prevent  from worsening the condition.

Q.5 Can suburn cause leucoderma to spread?
Ans.Daily sun exposure does not cause leucoderma to spread but having a sunburn can trigger the onset or spread of leucoderma.

Q.6 Is leucoderma associated with any other diseases?
Ans. Yes, like autoimmune conditions with thyroid disease being the most common in leucoderma patients.

Q.7 How ayurveda treatment considered effective?
Ans.Ayurvedic treatment is effective as purification therapies are there to eliminate the doshas and do not suppress them, treatment is also based on lifestyle improvement.