Skin Care Tips and Information

Causes of White Spots  - White Spots Treatment

White spots on the skin could be a symptom of a number of conditions. While huge patches of skin that have been bleached away are an indication of diseases like vitiligo or leucoderma, small white spots on the skin are usually an indication of some kind of vitamin deficiency in the body. Incidentally, if you notice any white spots on your nails then this is not a completely related condition; it is a deficiency but rather a deficiency of zinc rather than a vitamin deficiency. One of the other ways of identifying the difference between a possible case of vitiligo and leucoderma is to see if the spots have been increasing over a period of time and if there are some pigmented spots left on the skin that are very dark. Vitiligo and leucoderma are diseases that are caused by a genetic trigger in your body that kills of your pigment creating cells called melanocytes.

When the body destroys its own healthy cells, it is a condition called an autoimmune disease. Some of the other kinds of autoimmune diseases are diabetes and arthritis. There is no cure for an autoimmune disease and the only thing that can be done is to stop the immune system from destroying the cells further using a group of medications called corticosteroids. In the cases of autoimmune skin diseases, these are applied topically but also orally in some cases. Since these drugs tamper with the immune system, the major risk of using them is that your immune system is weakened; therefore, this is not a long term measure to treat it. Though, increased pepper intake and a suntan have been proved to be useful.

Vitamin B12 deficiency is also a causative factor in the appearance of white spots. This is because vitamin B12 is an essential vitamin that is required for cellular processes to take place – specifically the creation and division of cells. When there is a deficiency, the melanocytes cells are not able to produce the skin pigment melanin and you end up with a depigmented spot on the skin. Restocking your body with vitamin B12 is not easily done using dietary methods because of the low absorption rates of the body with B12. Your best chance at helping your body out is to take vitamin B12 supplements. Take these in the evening every day as this is the time when the body absorbs it the best. If supplements are not an option, increase your intake of dairy products as there no plant sources of B12 available to the human intestine.

Tags: causes of white spots on skin, white spots on the skin, white spots treatment

This entry was posted on Monday, July 27th, 2009 at 4:33 am and is filed under Skin Problems. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.