All:
Luckily (I stress the word, Luckily !), we found success with Protopic. For my daughter, Vit disappeared on the ankle and knees and elbows and eyelids completely. Eyelid took 5 months, other locations needed anywhere from 9 months to 4 years. Our goal now is to stop Protopic for 3 months and see what happens.....Basically, taking a break. What a journey, since the the beginning of 2008 !
As mentioned in the past in this forum discussions, we do not know how to deal with Lips. We are not even sure, the reddishness in the lips is vit related or something else. Our derm says, my daughter's lips are natually red, not vit. To me, they are not "normal" colored lips. Hence, for now, no treatment for lips. Our game plan is to continue to watch.
I plan to come back and give an update sometime in Jan/Feb 2013.
Replies
So happy to read about your daughters success with Protopic. I wanted to know if you took any breaks in between while on th protopic treatment? My dermatologist recommend's a week or two off every 3 months. Also what strength protopic did he recommend? My daughter is 6 years old and was diagoised with vitiligo.
is it normal to feel warmth on my face using protopic? what should i do? do i have to lessen the amount upon applying?
Sorry for the delayed response.
feeling of little warmth on the face is normal. I simply use my finger to apply on my daughter's body. I always felt little warmth, not much though. Protopic works well for facial vitiligo.
Just to give you one example, I actually, saw the picture of this young girl (aged about 14 to 15 years perhaps). Her entire face was covered with vit, I would say a good 70 percent. Our Derm showed the picture of the same girl after 6 months of protopic. Unbelievable. probably 90% repigmented. Our derm always says, you can protopic any amount, any # of times. we only applied two times/day. Good Luck. Keep us posted.
i am using protopic too, and i already noticed that two of the six spots i have in my face are getting a lot better, getting my real skin tone back. But i have also noticed that other two spots are getting lighter and are getting bigger,,, so i want to know if during the traetment with your daugther, all the spots got better or stay the same,,, or if there were some parts that even being treated with protopic got worst. please i really want to know this, because in my home i dont really have that much support, and to get my mom to take me to the derm again will cost me a lot, because sometimes she thinks i exagerate.so i hope you can answer me soon to tell my mon to go to the derm again, or to just keep my treatment the way it is. thank you (:
(by the way i am in this treatment since about two months)
Sorry for the delayed response. Lot going on in our lives.
In our daughter's cae, there were no indivdiuals spots on the face. It started as an island on the eyelid and began spreading. For 5 months (Aug thru Dec), we did NOTHING. We thought, it was something resulted from weather changes. Kept applying regular moisturizers. Finally, went to the derm only to find out that this is Vit. Then, we began applying Protopic. Took good 3 months for initial results. By 4.5 months, vit was gone 90%. It was such a relief. After 6 momnths, 100% gone.
To answer your question, no need to go to derm. Continue your treatment for another 2 or 3 months easily. You will see results. 100 percent guaranteed. Trust me. Vit caught in the early stages is treatable, especially on the face. Protopic works well for facial vitiligo. Period. I have written this manay a time on this forum.
In summary, keep your faith in Protopic and it will do its magic, just like you did for us. Good Luck.
Thank you so much for the information, and yes i will keep doing the treatment and hope for the best results :) thank you again, and i wish you all the best for you and your daughter (:
congratulations. please keep us posted.
Congra..the best is to controll the emotional stress...you are lucky that ur dougter was so peatent to use it long enough..think posetive dont worry about the lip once her vitiligo is on repigmenting prosses it can clear by it self.
There are so many other treatments for lip when it is stable .
Thank you for your comments. It has really uplifted my mood. Yes, Patience is the mantra for vit. We are optimistic that lip stays stable.
I do not want to discourage but Protopic helps great when "other disorders" are corrected. It looks that there are some
improvements in the factors leading to vit. So you can accelerate depigmentation with Protopic easily. However, most of the time it will come back when the conditions kick in again. So you should sit down and write what you did, even the ones you thing is not important, and continue doing those at least 3-4 years (your long treatment process) as if you have vit.
Believe me I cannot even assure that you stopped it. I congratulate on you plan and your success, it is the way to go. You must have a plan all the time.