Vitiligo as a systemic disease.
Vitiligo is an acquired depigmentary skin disorder of unknown etiology. Vitiligo is not only a disease of melanocytes of the skin. Human melanocytes are derived from the neural crest and are located on various parts of the body. The involvement of skin melanocytes is the most visible one, but a systemic involvement of melanocytes can be observed. Some types of vitiligo (nonsegmental vitiligo) may also be associated with various diseases, mainly with autoimmune pathogenesis. Vitiligo represents a spectrum of many different disorders with different etiologies and pathogeneses, causing a common phenotype: the loss of melanocytes and/or their products. This phenotype is always consistent with a systemic involvement.
Chair of Dermatology and Venereology, University of Rome "G. Marconi," Rome, Italy.
Torello
T
Lotti
Division of Dermatology, Department of Surgery and Translational Medicine, University of Florence, Viale Michelangiolo 41, 50100 Florence, Italy. Electronic address: A.m.derme@gmail.com.
Angelo Massimiliano
AM
D'Erme
D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000150:complications; D008544:Melanocytes; D010641:Phenotype; D013959:Thyroid Diseases / Q000150:complications; D014820:Vitiligo / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology