Skin Discoloration Archives

White blotches on arms

Dr. Stoll, my mother, who is an 80 year old caucasion woman has a skin condition that causes her to have large areas on her arms & hands that have no pigmentation. The more sun she gets the worse it looks since these "blotches" don't tan like the normal skin. Do you know a name for this condition, and any help for it? I read that spirulina will help "age spots", but this seems to be a reversal of age spots. Thank you!

Follow Ups:

• Re: White blotches on arms (Archive in skin.) Walt Stoll 07:12:38 6/09/02 (0)
• Re: White blotches on arms Cheezi 00:05:52 6/09/02 (0)

In Reply to: White blotches on arms posted by SusanB on June 08, 2002 at 08:46:35:

Susan, your mother's white spots sound more like Vitiglio Pigmentosa. I'm not positive, of course, having never seen her myself, but I know a couple of people who have it. Michael Jackson also suffers from Vitiglio. The spots don't tan at all, they've actually lost their pigmentation. From what I understand, this is an auto-immune disease that does nothing other than cause the skin to lose its natural color.

In Reply to: White blotches on arms posted by SusanB on June 08, 2002 at 08:46:35:

Hi, SusanB.

There are several diagnoses possible here but Cheezi has put her finger on the most likely. A simple tiny biopsy of an edge of one of the spots will give a definitive diagnosis.

Let us know what you learn.

Walt