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I wanted to share a little bit about my son.  He started to get the white patches at the end of his kindergarten year.  At that time we didn't know what was going on.  He began to get picked on by a boy in school.  He was told many times that he had lepordsy.  That always resulted in many crying episodes after school.   We took him to a dermatologist that first said he had eczema.  I have a daughter with eczema and it was completely different but we went with what the docotor told us. Then over his first grade year the spots spread.  They have now almost taken over the whole front of his legs.  So much color is gone he started to ask why he had brown spots.  We never could give him a reason to why his skin looked that way.  We took him to a new dermatologist the beginning of this month and it was there we were told he had vitiligo.  We had a name and now we had answers.   Today for the first time he was able to avoid stares or comments or maybe even feeling of shame.  He feels impowered by just knowing the name.  He had a friend over today and they were just talking like any little 7 year olds do.  But then there must have been one look to many at his legs because with no questions asked he simply said "I have vitiligo"  He went to explain why his legs looked that way and that he feels they may even be getting better.  The boy listened to him and then the conversation went back to boy stuff.  No big deal!  I know he only felt comfortable because he now has the knowledge of what it is and how to educate others.  I hope as he grows he will always feel this comfortable in his skin!