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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Is Vitiligo A Heritable Disorder?

Hello yes you can. I am in a difficult situation. My husbands parents rejected me and threw me out of their house because of my grannys vitiligo. She has it on her hands only. She got it at the age of 55 or older. I must say they are muslim and in their society there is a stigma attached to vitiligo. My husband is a doctor. He claims these small barely visible patches will get passed on to me and my kids. He says we will never have kids. My granny feels deeply insulted and so do i. Nobody in my family except from my granny has it. Is my husbands fear of vitiligo justified? Is it really do serious?
Mon, 22 Dec 2014
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General & Family Physician,  's  Response
Hello,
I understand your concern.
Vitiligo is autoimmune condition in which person's own immunity starts destroying his own malanocytes (the pigment cells) and so there is white patches on the body.
Although it is not yet completely proved, vitiligo do run in families, i.e. if parents have it and there is a chance that the babies may get it, however not all children of affected parents develop vitiligo.
There may be other auto immune disease along with vitiligo like hyperthyroidism and addition's disease, but infertility is not a known association.
There are various treatment available like topical steroids, photochemotherapy, camouflage, etc.
I hope this will be helpful.
Take care.
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Is Vitiligo A Heritable Disorder?

Hello, I understand your concern. Vitiligo is autoimmune condition in which person s own immunity starts destroying his own malanocytes (the pigment cells) and so there is white patches on the body. Although it is not yet completely proved, vitiligo do run in families, i.e. if parents have it and there is a chance that the babies may get it, however not all children of affected parents develop vitiligo. There may be other auto immune disease along with vitiligo like hyperthyroidism and addition s disease, but infertility is not a known association. There are various treatment available like topical steroids, photochemotherapy, camouflage, etc. I hope this will be helpful. Take care.