Udupi: Kasturba Hospital Manipal will observe World Vitiligo Day, which is celebrated on June 25, by offering patients special treatment packages from June 19 to 26,

Dr Col M Dayananda, medical superintendent and COO, Kasturba Hospital, Manipal said, “Kasturba Hospital is one of the hospitals which have advanced phototherapy treatment facility”.

Vitiligo is a condition in which the pigment is lost from areas of skin, causing white patches, often with no clear cause. It affects people in the 10-30 age group, irrespective of the gender. Over 10 crore people in the world are affected by vitiligo.

Human body’s immune system sees melanocyte pigment cells in the skin as foreign bodies and attacks them, which results in vitiligo. Dr Sathish Pai B, professor and head of the department of Dermatology, Kasturba Hospital, Manipal, said, “Depression, anxiety, social embarrassment and self-consciousness caused by vitiligo are common responses. There are many incidents of discrimination at work and other difficulties faced by such patients.”

“However, there are many treatment options for vitiligo patients. But it is important for patients suffering from the disease to seek the help of a skin specialist at the earliest. The disease is not at all contagious and hence people with vitiligo need not be isolated,” he said.