It's rare a day goes by and I don't see a person with vitiligo on the bus, in a store or on the street. I don't know if the fact that I have vitiligo plays in to this because I'm more aware of my surroundings, but there certainly are a lot of people who have vitiligo. And it really frustrates me that the information I come across doesn't correspond with what I see and that society is unaware of this skin condition.
When I was on vacation last month, I spent a couple of hours on a very small islet just off of Villa Franca in Sao Miguel, Azores. There were two other people besides me with vitiligo. When I got back home, I was standing in line to pay at the cash and there were three people (including me), one behind the other, in line with vitiligo. Now, is this a coincidence or is there really more than 2 percent of the population with vitiligo? It can't be that every time I see another vitiligan that it's a coincidence.
I just hope that soon enough the stats will reflect the actual percentage of people who have vitiligo because then science, doctors, researchers, society, etc...will find it more important to raise awareness about this condition since more people are affected by it.
I hope I'm not out of line. I just really think we aren't being accurately presented.
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The larger your city or towns population the better are your odds of seeing somebody else with vitiligo. Lets say for example if you live in Adams North Dakota how many other people will you see with vitiligo ? as opposed to people who live in Newyork City
Before losing the great majority of my pigment, a lot of people thought I was a burn victim. More than once I was approached by "fellow burn victims" and I'd have to explain that I wasn't one, that I had vitiligo.
I'm not sure how accurate the 1 - 2% figure is, or if anyone really knows since it's surely not reported by some number of people who have it.
So my question is: with however many people there are who have it, how come we don't have more of them in our network? :)
I live right next to Montreal, a big city in Quebec with 1.6 million people and a travel destination for many tourists. So, maybe these two facts play into the fact that I often see people with vitiligo.
I totally agree with you, Steve, why aren't more people benefitting from this site? When I was in denial about my vitiligo and not accepting the fact that I have it, I never really researched it. I wanted it to go away and I thought that by not thinking about it or researching up on it, that that was the only way it would go away.
Boy, was I wrong. I've had vitiligo for 4 years, but I've only accepted it for the last 6 months. That's when I started my research and consulted with doctors and naturopaths. Only deep into my research did I come across this site. My hat off to you, Steve! This site is a haven for me. But, getting back to the question why aren't more vitiligans using this site, I think it has to do with the fact that many of them haven't accepted their vitiligo yet and aren't ready to start talking about it.
I pray and hope for those people that they discover this site and take advantage of all the great discussions going on in here.
Jennifer you know I was saying the same thing. How can vitiligo only affect 1 or 2 % of the population when we see so many others with it, But maybe because we live in large urban areas they say if you live in a large city or town your more likely too see others with vitiligo as opposed to somebody who lives in a small town. I live in Philadelphia,Pa. it's a city of 1.5 million people and I often come across others with vitiligo during my many travels
counting them . My doctor was celebrated in 2009 on TV that he depigged 1000 patients : )