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Chelsea Casey [1] and Stephen E. Weis [1]
Academic Editor: Xing-Hua Gao
Department of Internal Medicine, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, Fort Worth, TX, USA, unthsc.edu
Received Apr 23, 2017; Accepted Jul 16, 2017
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
1. Introduction
Vitiligo is a benign disorder of skin pigmentation with a clinical presentation of white macules or patches [1]. It affects approximately 1% of the world’s population with most cases appearing in the second and third decades of life. Congenital vitiligo is rare with few reported cases. The etiology of vitiligo is unknown. It is believed to be multifactorial with hypotheses regarding genetics, environment, neurogenic, and autoimmune components. Acquired vitiligo has an unpredictable clinical course with subtypes that include nonsegmental, segmental, or mixed vitiligo. Due to the rarity of congenital vitiligo, little is known about its clinical course. In our research, only 6 cases of congenital vitiligo are reported. However, not all case reports comment on the clinical course of the lesions. Although benign, the psychosocial burden can have a profound impact on quality of life for patients with acquired or congenital vitiligo. The lack of knowledge on the clinical course of congenital vitiligo can intensify the feelings of distress. We present a case of a 23-year-old female patient who was found to have three stable vitiligo patches since birth without any spread of existing lesions or occurrence of new lesions.
2. Case
A 23-year-old Caucasian female presented to the dermatology clinic for multiple dermatologic issues. One of her findings was three depigmented patches. According to her history, and confirmed by her mother, she was born with the three skin lesions. The three lesions had never altered in size or pigmentation, were not painful, and had never blistered. She and her mother denied disease progression since birth. Her prior medical history was only significant for eczema and contact dermatitis. There was no personal or family history of autoimmune diseases, skin malignancies, or trauma.
On physical exam, she had an...