OUTLOOK
21 November 2018

Vitiligo’s impact is in the eye of the beholder

Clinicians and researchers must learn to talk about and treat the skin condition without alienating a growing chorus of advocates, says John Harris.

John Harris⁰

John Harris
1. John Harris is director of the Vitiligo Clinic and Research Center at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester.
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As a clinician–scientist who studies and treats the skin disease vitiligo, I am committed to improving the lives of my patients. The condition, which is characterized by white patches on the skin, results from the immune-mediated destruction of melanocytes — cells that produce melanin, the pigment that gives skin its colour. Vitiligo affects about one in every hundred people worldwide, without bias towards gender, race or geographic location. But it could be even more prevalent: many patients tell me that they hadn’t sought clinical care previously (and therefore weren’t included in official data) because they were unaware that treatment options exist.

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Nature 563, S99 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-07435-5

This article is part of Nature Outlook: Skin, an editorially independent supplement produced with the financial support of third parties. About this content.