VITILIGO

Encouraging results for Dead Sea Climatotherapy in vitiligo patients.

Overview of Vitiligo

Vitiligo is a chronic (long-lasting) autoimmune disorder that causes patches of skin to lose pigment or color. This happens when melanocytes – skin cells that make pigment – are attacked and destroyed, causing the skin to turn a milky-white color.

In vitiligo, the white patches usually appear symmetrically on both sides of your body, such as on both hands or both knees. Sometimes, there can be a rapid loss of color or pigment and even cover a large area.

The segmental subtype of vitiligo is much less common and happens when the white patches are only on one segment or side of your body, such as a leg, one side of the face, or arm. This type of vitiligo often begins at an early age and progresses for 6 to 12 months and then usually stops.

vitiligo Dead Sea
vitiligo Dead Sea
vitiligo Dead Sea

Who Gets Vitiligo?

Anyone can get vitiligo, and it can develop at any age. However, for many people with vitiligo, the white patches begin to appear before age 20, and can start in early childhood.

Vitiligo seems to be more common in people who have a family history of the disorder or who have certain autoimmune diseases, including:

  • Addison’s disease.
  • Pernicious anemia.
  • Psoriasis.
  • Rheumatoid arthritis.
  • Systemic lupus erythematosus.
  • Thyroid disease.
  • Type 1 diabetes.
Dead Sea Sun

Symptoms of Vitiligo

The main symptom of vitiligo is loss of natural color or pigment, called depigmentation. The depigmented patches can appear anywhere on your body and can affect:

  • Skin, which develops milky-white patches, often on the hands, feet, arms, and face. However, the patches can appear anywhere.
  • Hair, which can turn white in areas where the skin is losing pigment. This can happen on the scalp, eyebrow, eyelash, beard, and body hair.
  • Mucous membranes, such as the inside of your mouth or nose.

People with vitiligo can also develop:

    • Low self-esteem or a poor self-image from concerns about appearance, which can affect quality of life.
    • Uveitis, a general term that describes inflammation or swelling in the eye.
    • Inflammation in the ear.
vitiligo Treatment

Causes of Vitiligo

Scientists believe that vitiligo is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the melanocytes.  In addition, researchers continue to study how family history and genes may play a role in causing vitiligo. Sometimes an event – such as a sunburn, emotional distress, or exposure to a chemical – can trigger vitiligo or make it worse.

Vitiligo at Dead Sea

Can You Actually Treat Vitiligo at the Dead Sea?

Dead Sea water

Abstract

Applying natural mineral water to skin care is a popular tendency and many cosmetics products based on thermal spring water have been developed. The special location and environmental conditions provide Dead Sea water (DSW) with unique ion composition and concentrations, which bring comprehensive positive effects on skin health. This article reviews two potential action modes of DSW, and the biological function of DSW and its related complex in dermatology and skin care. Previous studies have proved the functions of skin moisturization, anti-inflammation, skin barrier repair, and anti-pollution. Especially, the anti-aging effect of DSW and related complexes can act in three different ways: keratinocyte rejuvenation, photo-protection, and cellular energy elevation. Additionally, the issues that need further investigation are also discussed. We hope that this review will help to improve the understanding of DSW and its related complex, and further contribute to product development in the skincare industry.
Background: Vitiligo is an acquired idiopathic skin disorder characterized by depigmented macules and patches. Despite many therapies available today, treatment of vitiligo remains a challenge. Preliminary reports cite encouraging results for Dead Sea Climatotherapy (DSC) in vitiligo patients. Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of DSC in 436 patients suffering from vitiligo.

Introduction​

The Dead Sea, located on the border of Israel, Palestine, and Jordan, is the lowest point on the continent and one of the three most saline lakes in the world, with a salinity of about 300‰. The extreme environmental conditions have shaped the Dead Sea into a forbidden area for higher plants and animals. Only a few salt-tolerant plants and microorganisms can survive on the shore or around the lake. Nevertheless, the skincare benefits of Dead Sea water (DSW) have been known since biblical times [1], mainly due to its unique ionic concentration and composition.
Compared to other natural waters, such as ordinary seawater and hot springs, DSW has a very high ratio of divalent to monovalent cation concentrations. The main divalent cations are magnesium, calcium, and strontium, and the main monovalent cations are sodium and potassium. Additionally, the highest concentration of anions is not chloride ion, but bromine ion, and DSW also contain some trace metal elements, such as zinc and manganese. The elemental composition of DSW is shown in table:

Dead Sea

Methods

Files of 436 vitiligo patients, who were treated by DSC between the years 1997 and 2005 at the Deutsches Medizinisches Zentrum (DMZ) Medical Center, were retrieved for analysis. Climatotherapy, including gradually increased sun exposure following a sea bath, was administered in accordance with a computer-designed protocol. Age at vitiligo onset, skin phototype, skin involvement, duration of disease, as well as timing and duration of DSC were recorded. Logistic regression was used to estimate the effect of each one of the parameters analysed on the treatment's success.​

Results

Following treatment, 3.9% of patients demonstrated total or significant repigmentation (defined by more than 50% repigmentation in more than 50% of the lesions); 81.4% showed good repigmentation; 13.1% showed no repigmentation but their vitiligo spots were pink-colored and 1.6% appeared not to be affected at all by DSC. Patient response to the treatment was inversely proportional to the size of the affected area. A negative correlation was found between duration of the vitiligo and the clinical short-term response to DSC. In addition, the longer the stay at the Dead Sea the better was the result.​

Conclusion

Climatotherapy at the Dead Sea is an effective treatment modality for vitiligo. Disease duration and severity, as well as length of treatment, were the main factors found to favourably influence the clinical response.

Dead Sea Jordan Salt beach

Vitiligo

Abstract Background: Vitiligo is an acquired idiopathic skin disorder characterized by depigmented macules and patches. Despite many therapies available today, treatment of vitiligo remains a challenge. Preliminary reports cite encouraging results for Dead Sea Climatotherapy (DSC) in vitiligo patients. Objective To evaluate the efficacy of DSC in 436 patients suffering from vitiligo. Methods Files of 436 […]
vitiligo

Vitiligo at the Dead Sea

Can you actually treat vitiligo at the Dead Sea?  It turns out that you can. While vitiligo treatment is always a case by case basis, climatotherapy at the Dead Sea has proven to be a safe and effective way of treating your spots. The Dead Sea therapy is also effective in treating Vitiligo – a […]