A 7-year-old girl, Miss M. K (L-8594) reported to the clinic with vitiligo on her left upper eyelid, right retro auricular region (since 2-3 weeks) and her left cheek since 6 months. Hypopigmented spots were noticed, which increased gradually. The vitiligo spots were bilaterally symmetrical (similar on both the sides).
She was also suffering from infantile eczema on her back, Cubital Fossa (front portion of the elbow) and Popliteal Fossa (at the back of the knee joint) and at times on face since 3 months of age, which usually aggravated during the winters. It gradually reduced with age.
Along with her skin complaints, she was also suffering from mild Asthma since two and a half years. She used to complain of bouts of cough with whitish thick expectoration, which generally aggravated due to seasonal changes (winter in USA, rainy season in India), dust and at night and used to last for a week.
Her father was hypertensive and had melanoma. Her mother had suffered from vitiligo in the past. Her grandfather suffered from prostate cancer, hypertension and Ischemic Heart Disease. Her maternal grandfather had Tongue Cancer. Her maternal grandmother had Migraine. Her maternal aunt suffered from Migraine and Asthma.
Her Vitiligo spots had been treated with the use of steroids. Initially these spots responded well to the local ointments but after discontinuing their use, there was an increase in the spots.
She was a very friendly child. She was quite short-tempered. She didn’t like to be alone to the point that she couldn’t sleep alone in a room. She had a good memory and concentration.
Initially there were no appreciable changes in her vitiligo spots although further growth of the spots was halted. There were no new spots appearing as well. This was indicative that the medicines were acting and were able to halt the disease process from within the body. She took the medication regularly for another 4 months. After which there was gradual improvement in the spots. The spots on the upper eyelid were better by upto 60 % and the right and left retro auricular areas by 100 %.
After further treatment for 6 months, there has been marked improvement in the eczema of right Cubital Fossa, left Cubital Fossa and right Popliteal area. She was advised to
continue treatment on the similar lines.
In our day-to-day clinical practice, we receive letter of thanks from our patients and their families for the quality of our service. Cases like these that are doing extremely well now show that, having faith in your physician and being patient with the treatment can really make a difference in any disease condition.