Hypopigmented spots

Hypopigmentation is a very common skin disease. It is caused by various reasons that lead to the loss of skin pigmentation, making the color of the affected skin lighter than normal skin and resulting in various spots. There are many reasons for hypopigmentation. Some hypopigmentation spots are caused by congenital reasons, while others are caused by acquired diseases. So what are the types of hypopigmentation spots?

Acquired hypopigmented spots include leukoplakia in middle-aged and elderly people, tinea versicolor, pityriasis simplex, etc. In addition, vitiligo, a common intractable skin disease in clinical practice, is also a hypopigmented skin disease. Different hypopigmented spots should be treated differently according to their symptoms.

White spots in middle-aged and elderly people

Vitiligo in middle-aged and elderly people: Clinically, we often see some middle-aged and elderly people over 45 years old begin to develop a kind of depigmented spots without subjective symptoms, which is medically called senile vitiligo. There is no difference in incidence between men and women.

Vitiligo often occurs on the trunk, limbs, especially the thighs, but not on the face.

These white spots have distinct boundaries and are mostly the size of a needle tip to a bean, and some can even be as big as a fingernail, and are round or oval in shape. The number can range from a few to dozens or hundreds. The skin at the white spot is slightly sunken, with clear boundaries and no increased pigmentation. This disease is an aging degenerative phenomenon caused by a decrease in the number of DOPA-positive melanocytes in the skin. Therefore, white spots that appear on middle-aged and elderly people are not necessarily vitiligo.

Pityriasis versicolor

Tinea versicolor, also known as tinea versicolor, is a superficial fungal disease. The skin lesions are mainly pale white, round or oval, with blurred edges. The surface often has many fine scales and is refractile. The fungus can be found directly under a microscope. The diseased areas are mostly areas with well-developed sebaceous glands, such as the neck, upper chest, back and upper limbs.

Pityriasis simplex

Pityriasis simplex, commonly known as worm spots, is a common skin disease in children and can also occur in young adults. The hypopigmentation is round or oval in shape, with clear boundaries, slightly raised edges, and covered with a small amount of small scales. Most of the patches are asymptomatic. The patches vary in size, with a diameter of about 1 cm to several centimeters. They are light red in the early stages and soon turn into light white. If you are not careful to identify them at this time, they can easily be confused with vitiligo. However, the depigmentation of worm spots is incomplete, the surface is rough, and sometimes there are scales attached.

Vitiligo:

Vitiligo is a skin disease that can occur in people of any age and any race. The cause of vitiligo has not yet been fully identified, and it has a certain chance of being inherited. Vitiligo is a hypopigmented macular disease caused by loss of melanin in the skin. It is relatively difficult to treat and is prone to recurrence, so it must be treated promptly.