hello everybody, i just wanted to vent and talk to some people. ive noticed in the past few months or so my vitiligo has been spreading. and its all spreading on my legs and hips. my mom has talked to me aboput vitiligo has a possibility to spread over my entire body. im thinking its a very slim chance. but i dont want it to happen because then my days of bikinis will be over as well ans my long days at the pool and beach. i want someone to talk to that understands this. i want someone from school to tell me im beautiful even with this condition. but nobody ever has. not even my old boyfriends. i used to think i was pretty but all the sudden now when i look in the mirror i alwatys thoink what makeup can i put on to look pretty. but i hate wearing make up but i feel so ugly without it. my mom tries to talk to me about it but its hard for her to understand. she tries to but its hard for her to. people think that you can cover all of it up with makeup and it will all go away. but its not the case. i dont tell people about my condition because im afraid it will bring more attention to it. i alwys feel that when im talking about this im feeling sorry for my self. thats why i dont like to talk about it. but it has to come out sometime. and this time is now. i havent told all my friends about it either. ive told 2 of them. and the thing that bothers me is they dont even care to ask about it. i want them to ask. i want them to know about it.
theres a boy at my school and he has very pale skin. people call him albino. it bothers me. because people laugh about it, that just offends me.because they are making fun of everbody thats albino. and it comes off even more offending because of the fact that we are all kinda part albino in some way if you think about it. ive had people call me albino, even my friends. and one kid said are you albino? because theres something wrong with your face and thena nother boy started saying it as well.
sorry if im comming off as complaining or felling sorry for myself to anybody. but im a teenage girl imean i want to feel pretty i need someone to vent to and the only people i know of to vent to is you guys. so im going to take advantage of my opportunity. thanks for listining/ reading.
Replies
Heather-
I feel for you!
I was diagnosed when I was in the 3rd grade, but it didn't start to really spread until I was in high school. I still say that having vitiligo is a "lonely place". It's nearly impossible to find someone who knows exactly what you're going through.
I was a sun bunny in my hey day. I finally hung up my bikini around the age of 15 and just decided to stay pale to make my patches less obvious. Do I miss sunbathing? Absolutely. But I gradually accepted the change in lifestyle (which was pretty tough- I live in Florida). I changed my activities and my overall style to better coordinate with my pale self. Sure, plenty of people did (and still do) remark about how pale I am, but it was a change I made for me and nobody else. When some person who has premature wrinkles and sun spots from too much sun or an orange glow from a fake bake remarks that I could "use some sun", I smile and tell them that not everyone thinks that a suntan is attractive. It usually shuts them up. Now adays, because it is so true for me, I smile and tell them that I have an incurable disease that prevents me from tanning at all. Then they REALLY feel like jerks.
As for boys, I found that at the end of the day, I won over the pretty, tanned girls. Sure, dating in high school was a bit of a struggle, but once I got to college, I found that the boys there were more interested in a smart girl with personality and a great smile (ps- a great smile is the best cosmetic you'll ever own). By that age, boys have had their hearts broken a few times and have come to appreciate girls who bring more to the table than blonde hair and big boobs.
My final word of advice: find the features you have that you love (physical and non-physical) and do anything you can to improve or emphasize them. I've always loved my long hair and my ability to make new friends easily. Rather than focus on my white patches, I focused on keeping my hair in amazing shape and talking to strangers (not like stranger-danger-strangers, but like old ladies on park benches and other kids at school). When I didn't focus on my white patches, new people didn't focus on them either. But I got a ton of complements on the things I did focus on.
Oh Heather I wish you are close so I give you a warm big hug.....
I can understand how you feel and what you are going through, one thing on my mind as I was reading is that I have to intensify effort for Vitiligo awareness in my Continent even if it is the only thing I achieve in this life, I will die a happy woman. People are really ignorant of Vitiligo and its terrible how some people react to vitiligo persons, I can still remember my experiences.....you know when the general public understands Vitiligo as a skin condition it will really be less of segregation but more of Acceptance which can actually start from us.
Heather am not saying this to talk you happy, You are Beautiful!!! Vitiligo can never make you ugly if you dont allow it through your belief, ever since I conquered vitiligo trauma and depression, I have never seen myself as ugly, I tell you what its just becasue of how the society looks at you that make you feel that.
Think of it, how can we allow our fellow human, mere mortal like us dat doesnt even have control of our breathing to decide how we feel when they go about feeling happy and doing what they love doing. You do not deserve that one bit Heather and remember that God who created us gave us all equal right, whether crippled or dwarf or blind, we all have right to free air and happiness.
Believe me Accepting yourself for whom you are today and working on your mind to getting the to the stage of not bothering how the next person feels, but how you feel, you will see a great turn around even from your School and boys.
Positivity is contagious, Confidence is loving and friendly....nobody wants to be around sad or low confident person.
Heather dear, you have all it takes, you are alive, hopeful and BEAUTIFUL!!!!!! So U Can Conquer too....!!!
Vitiligo Awareness really need to be one thing we all have to do something about fast....it wont be nice to loose anyone to suicide because of Vitiligo having a form as Positive forum such as Vitilgio Friends
I developed Vitiligo when I was seven years old and I am now twenty-three years old. I felt the same way you do when I was in elementary school and high school. Kids can be cruel. Life was like hell on earth when I was your age. I got lucky though because the kids in my high school were very accepting and mature as oppose to the elementary. At the time, it covered almost all my neck area, face, some parts on my arms and legs. I didn’t know about makeup. People did stare and I just hated the attention. What got me through high school was me. I learned to accept the fact that I was different and that there was nothing I could do to change who I was. Looking back, I really do appreciate going through that dark time. It shaped me into the person I am today. I found out about a treatment at the Miami Children’s Hospital in Miami Fl and the Dr. Duarte. I use a cream call Oxsoralen and protopic. Whenever I put it on, I have to go in the sun for about 10 minutes every other day. It does work. It’s a special formula she developed. There also is the laser treatment however some insurance companies do not cover it but you can fight it because Vitiligo is a loss of pigmentation and those areas are not protected from the sun which can lead to skin cancer. The laser doesn’t cause skin cancer-it’s safe. I developed a channel on YouTube called make4vitiligo to help people. I posted a video that I did in response to someone that wrote me and stated-will I ever smile again. Hope it helps. You are not alone.
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