the sun and vitiligo

Whenever I am in the sun, I try to get as much as possible.. I have heard a story where a guy was out working with vitiligo, had his shirt off and stuff and got really sunburned and the vitiligo went away.. Now I know you can also get sun cancer.. but it seems like the sun actually helps me. I have darker patches on my stomach and lighter patches on my arm.. I don't know if my whole stomach has the lighter vitiligo or the darker spots are vitiligo.. never been to a dermatologist. I am not worried about going in the sun and seeing what will happan, king of like an experiment. What is the sun supposed to do to vitiligo?

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  • I love to be outside as well, I don't let the sun stop me! I just wear a ton of sunscreen and reapply every 2 hours, if I'm vigilant I won't burn my spots, sometimes I do a little. With this I've noticed some of my spots have filled in with freckles i'm assuming from my hair follicles that still carry pigment in them. This would be caused by continual sun expose not from the burning of my spots, I have been burned very severely once or twice and nothing happened besides it being very painful with blistering and peeling. If you're going to try experiments with sun, do it gradually, i've done tanning beds before and in small doses seems to help. Even if it's just getting my regular does of vitamin d in the winter.
  • I have had spots of vitiligo return to my natural skin color after being sun burned. This has happened to me more than once. For the past few years I have had a patch of vitiligo in the center of my chest. After being in the sun all day early this summer, the vitiligo first turned pink and then tanned and blended with the rest of the surrounding area. Also, I have noticed that when I am in the sun all day and get sun burned most of my vitiligo remains white and unburned, but the few areas of vitiligo which show pink have returned to normal color.
  • I have had vitiligo for the past 30 odd years, I am now totally white not a brown bit in site I also tried sitting in the sun when I had patches but it made no difference. If I get burnt now I scar and I am left with mottled red patches. If going in the sun now I always used sun factor 50+ and do my best not to get burnt as I am scared stiff of getting skin cancer.
    • What do you mean you are totally white? Did you bleach your skin?
      • No I didnt do anything, when I had my first child it spread really quickly then when i got pregnant with my second child it spread very fast again. With in 5 years of having my children I was totally white apart from some colour in my hair on one side and a little colour on my eye brows and lashes.
  • I have also been curious about this too, I would love to go to the beach but i haven't gotten good enough at the makeup to cover up my body and i am still very insecure about the spots on my back and chest. Like i have mentioned before I had some pigment back on my nose and i wonder if that had anything to do from the sun because it has been very hot outside this summer and haven't done anything recently to treat my face. I am thinking about the sun experiment as well, maybe a tanning salon, but i am worried about the skin cancer possibility, but at this point it is a risk i am almost willing to take.
  • I've sat in the sun purposely to see what would happen, i've noticed that after the tan fades away i see a new spot.It seems as though my hands are not affected by the sun,not even my normal color gets dark but the other parts of my body get very dark( the normal skin) I don't burn i tan nicely. Where did u hear that story?
    • well I heard the story from my mom..

      The white vitiligo spots burn very easily and get light red.. the rest of my body just tans like normal. If I stay in the sun for a long time my chest gets sun burn and is red as well.
      • don't take this the wrong way but do you think your mom was trying to make you feel better? :)
        • lol maybe but a story of a guy with vitiligo in the sun for hours made his vitiligo disapear, it just makes me think I should go out and get totally sunburned :)

          thats cool to see your from Manchester, I lived in Tilton (20 min no. Concord) til I was 19.
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