Vitiligo in a Boy of 15 – A Journey Through Personality

Background

We get scared with the name vitiligo. In ancient times, people considered it the outcome of some devil action. It is said that Vitiligo is not just a skin disorder but  is actually a severe, chronic, immune and genetic condition which is impossible to cure. Vitiligo is a chronic, autoimmune disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the melanocytes (the skin cells responsible for normal skin color), causing the skin to turn white.

It is not life threatening but causes a lot of mental, emotional and social disturbance. Vitiligo can develop at any age but usually we get to see white patches appearing symmetrically such as on both hands and both knees before the age of twenty.

It is common in people who have a family history of vitiligo or who have certain autoimmune diseases like pernicious anemia, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, thyroid disease, etc.

Depigmentation and whitening of hair in the affected area are the only prominent symptoms. Vitiligo usually travels in the next generation. The conventional school considers it an incurable disease and they medicate to stop the progress and reverse its effects, so that skin tone may appear better.1

Skin is the outermost organ, it reflects our personality as a mirror and somewhere we all are beauty conscious. It has a great impact on personal, social and family life.

Vitiligo appears externally but the cause is always internal due to derangement of the dynamic vital principle, which controls the material body. Hence, the treatment should be internal with dynamic remedies having potential to restore the normal functioning of vital force.

Methods & Homeopathic Approach:

The patient usually consults a homeopath when he is done with all other medicines. Vitiligo treatment is a big challenge in the present world especially when it is suppressed by topical and steroidal applications.

We get an adulterated case with serious conditions like asthma and heart diseases due to repeated palliative treatments. Homeopathy has proven to be highly effective in vitiligo. Constitutional treatment gives the most promising results in comparison to the remedies based on disease specific therapeutics.

Results & Conclusion

Witness the effect of internal homeopathic medication prescribed on the base of constitution in a boy of 15 years.

Keywords-
Vitiligo, Chronic diseases, leukoderma, Skin diseases, Homeopathy, Alternative Medicine

Anamnesis-

A boy of 15 visited me with his mother for leukoderma/vitiligo in August 2019. He had one milky white skin patch near the outer canthi of left eye and the other was near the left corner of his lip. He was obese, gentle and silent.

His mother said he is my second issue, born at full term with normal labor. He never troubles me. No demands. No major illness since childhood. Fully vaccinated without any reaction. Milestones normal. Innocent and shy, uncomfortable in crowded places.

Does not mix with new people, requires a long time. He talks little and slowly. Offended easily. He has an extremely careful attitude. Not demanding. Slow. As a child, used to make mistakes in writing. He wants to study more but cannot concentrate.

He joined skating, swimming and music classes and left them one by one. He wants to learn everything but I observed he is not capable in going to 2-3 classes per day, which his friends are easily doing. If I give his friend’s example, he gets angry and starts weeping.

He is sentimental, if anything hurts him, he just cries. Since his childhood, he saw us, me and his father fighting and maybe due to this he has become fearful and always feels that something bad is going to happen. His friends tease him by calling him a weeping girl. He tells me everything happening in school.

He is slow in everything. Does not get ready for school. The bus driver keeps blowing the horn but he is always late.

I asked him whether he has constipation as I thought it can be the reason for getting late for school. He said he has occasional constipation. His mother said he is late every time not only for school.

He is an angry person, feels bad but cannot express his opinion. He just cries.

I asked about his eating habits. Mother said, we have a joint family and we cook fancy food almost every alternate day but he just wants chapatti and vegetables. He is not attracted to pizza, burgers or noodles but he eats a lot and hence cannot not reduce the weight.

Family history-

Grandfather- DM

Grandmother- HT

Father- Ulcers in mouth

Mother- Hyperthyroidism

Brother-Psoriasis

 Past history-

He used to suffer from itchy skin eruptions at age of 7 years. Mother said, “Our dermatologist gave him some ointment and medicines as the eruptions were making him restless. His skin is still dry and easily get cracks. I have to remind him to apply moisturizer frequently. The eruptions used to get clear with recurrence after a few times. My poor child suffered a lot from this burning and itching eruptions. They still aggravates in cold weather.”

Just to confirm, I asked him to explain more about eruption. He said, I do not remember much but it was bad, dirty and itching rash. Usually dry but sometimes-oozing water caused more distress. Burning used to start after bad scratching.

I asked him about the other relieving factors than medication for the skin. He said  he used to wash the part with cold water.

Mother said her husband and never had any skin disorder but surprisingly our elder son has psoriasis and this one has tendency of keloids and vitiligo.

 Analysis and evolution

During interview, I understood that I am not dealing with present complaint- vitiligo; it was a case of a slow, introverted child who suffered a lot from bad family environment and bad skin eruptions. As I mentioned in the beginning, skin disorders are the outbreak of internal volcano.

Rubrics considered-

Physical rubrics-

Mental rubrics-

If you see the rubric vitiligo, you will not find Graphites there.

This is the beauty of homeopathy. We address the person, not the disease! I usually do not consider pathognomic symptoms (talking about disease) in repertorization, as our best cures come from non-pathognomic symptoms (talking about patient).

 Prescription-

Graphites 200 CH one dose given in August 2019.

Comments on selection of remedy-

The above rubrics are telling you the reason but I want to add more. Graphites children are heavily built and tend to be rather lethargic. Basically, they are not slow, they just need time.’ I WILL DO IT IN MY OWN GOOD TIME’ is the core of Graphites.

When their confidence is shaken, they become shy and nervous, and can burst into tears at the slightest trifle. Although Graphites is a shy person but it is the only remedy for the rubric-teasing in children. They laugh after teasing others, at reprimands as compensatory mechanism to show themselves confident.

They cannot tolerate criticism. It is one of the best remedies for dry and moist skin eruptions with intense itching. Due to slow metabolism, they usually suffer from hypothyroidism (mother has hypothyroidism). Graphites covers psoriasis well (brother has psoriasis). They are simple, unrefined and sensitive. It is the weepiest remedy of material medica.

I did not chose Graphites as it stood first in chart but it was the personality who demanded Graphites.

 Follow up after a month- September 2019

His white patches were the same. Old skin eruption came out. He was angry at the oozing eruption. I counseled him and suggested to wait and watch.

Placebo given.

Follow up after two months-October 2019

Condition was same and no change in white patches. He was not ready to continue my treatment. I somehow convinced him to bear for a month.

 Follow up after three months-November 2019

Mother said, he is very angry, not going out, restlessly scratching the skin, weeping with fear that now he has become incurable.  I could observe skin color dots in the white patch near the eye! I promised him that I would help him with vitiligo if he will give me few more months. However, he was not willing but the change in white patch made him hopeful.

Graphites 200 CH one aqua dose given.

I chose 200CH, the medium high potency when I have to address physical and mental plane in hypersensitive patients. I gave aqua dose to continue the action of first dose without any aggravation. Sometimes repetition of dry dose can shake the vitality and we may get aggravation. Aqua dose is safe and it works fast without disturbing the action of first dose. From experience, I learned, aqua doses acts as catalyst to the previous dry dose.

 Follow up after four months-December 2019

Skin cracks, itching +++ but no moist eruption.

The patch near eye was 80 % and the patch near lip was 30% better.

Patient complaint having itching in groin area.

Placebo given.

 Follow up after five months-January 2020

Itching and dryness was there but I could not see the white patch near eye! It turned normal! The patch near lip was still visible. Mother said he is not serious about study, no concentration, fear that parents may get separated, weeping a lot, keeping himself at one place, putting on weight.

Graphites 1M one dose given.

I felt that it is the time to address dynamic level.

 Follow up after six months-February 2020

Itching aggravated after the dose. Mother said she called on my clinic helpline number and was told to use the application of coconut oil 4-5 times per day.

The patch near lip was barely visible!

Placebo given.

Follow up after eight months-March 2020

No white patches at all!

Itching was still a trouble.

Placebo given.

Follow up after nine months- April 2020

He could not come to visit due to lockdown.

I suggested he not to suppress itching.

 Meeting after a year-June 2021

I insisted his mother to come for casual meeting, not for consultation. I wanted to see if there is any recurrence. His face was uniform in color. Itching in genital region was on and off. I recorded the video statement. They were thankful to homeopathy!

Conclusion-

If you are confident about your remedy and potency, homeopathy is the best tool in treating personalities. Running behind the diagnosis may disappoint you as when we hear about any autoimmune disorder, a voice in brain says-it is not curable! True. The auto immune disorders like vitiligo, pernicious anemia, arthritis, cancer etc. are not curable but the person under the disease is curable!

Reference-

1. https://www.niams.nih.gov/health-topics/vitiligo