Today, we are going to talk about confetti-like vitiligo, commonly known as confetti vitiligo. You’re probably wondering what it is. Confetti-like vitiligo is an extremely rapidly progressing type of vitiligo. In this kind of vitiligo, confetti-like lesions are found at the edges of existing lesions that reflect acute damage to melanocytes (mature melanin-forming cells in the skin) by the immune system. Hence, this kind of vitiligo is considered an emergency and it’s supposed to be treated extremely rigorously to prevent rapid and potentially permanent loss of pigmentation.
Just like other kinds of vitiligo, what causes this nature of vitiligo is still not known. Over the years, many researchers have hypothesized that autoimmunity, hormonal misbalance, nutrition deficiency or oxidative stress could be a reason behind its occurrence in the first place.
What research studies reveal about confetti vitiligo?
As per the study, confetti-like depigmentation could be a marker of rapidly progressing vitiligo as well as a sign of inflammatory vitiligo. As per a study, Vitiligo Disease Activity Score (a clinical score reflecting signs of vitiligo’s activity) was significantly higher in the patients with confetti-like lesions compared with those without confetti-like lesions.
A skin biopsy specimen of a confetti-like lesion in one patient also revealed an inflammatory infiltrate in the papillary dermis, which supports the fact that confetti-like vitiligo could be a sign of inflammatory vitiligo as well.
Options to treat confetti vitiligo
Treatment of confetti-like vitiligo should be handled by any dermatologist, who is a vitiligo specialist. The treatment options may vary from phototherapy, topical corticosteroids to pulse doses of systemic corticosteroids. Since the exact cause of this kind of vitiligo is not known, the efficacy of available treatments is subject to many ongoing studies.
A lot of doctors and dermatologists who aren’t vitiligo specialists don’t know that if you have vitiligo with confetti shapes. So, if your vitiligo is progressing extremely rapidly, you might want to educate your doctor or dermatologist about it.
