There is a white spot on the baby's body

Babies' skin is generally fair, but if white spots appear, they will contrast sharply with the skin color, and parents can also notice it clearly. Most of the white spots on the baby's body are related to vitiligo. In addition to vitiligo, there are also other causes such as urticaria and drug factors. When white spots appear, parents should take their children for diagnosis of the disease in time.

Vitiligo in children is different from vitiligo in adults in terms of its clinical manifestations and immunological characteristics. Studies have shown that there are obvious gender differences in vitiligo in children, with a high proportion of segmental types and fewer associated autoimmune diseases.

Causes of Disease

(1) Disease status : The earliest onset of vitiligo occurs at birth. Those who develop the disease before the age of 10 account for about 15% of the total number of vitiligo patients. There are significantly more female patients than male patients.

(2) Predisposing factors : The positive rate of family history in children is relatively high, and there is often a history of premature birth in their families, which shows that genetic factors play an important role in the onset of vitiligo in children. Some children have skin lesions in areas susceptible to trauma such as the knees, elbows, forearms, hands and feet, suggesting that trauma may be a predisposing factor for the onset of vitiligo in children.

(3) Location of skin lesions : About 50% of lesions in children with vitiligo are located on the head and neck, about 28% on the lower limbs, and about 18% on the trunk. The first sites of discovery are often the external genitalia and perianal area. The initial skin lesions are often located at the knees, elbows, forearms, hands, heels and other areas susceptible to trauma.

(4) Distribution of skin lesions : 33% to 42% of children have generalized lesions, 17% to 9% have dermatomal lesions, and 30% to 50% have localized and sporadic lesions. There is data showing that approximately 41.3% of children with segmental vitiligo are younger than 10 years old.

(5) Treatment effect : Children with vitiligo are more sensitive to various repigmentation therapies, and the repigmentation rate of white spots is higher than that of adults. However, since children are in the stage of physical and mental development, the adverse reactions of therapies such as corticosteroids, immunosuppressants, and oral PUVA are likely to be greater, which will have varying degrees of impact on the physical development of children.

Treatment features

The treatment methods for humans are roughly the same, and the efficacy is better than that for adults.

(1) Vitiligo in children has the following characteristics: 1. Age of onset: The shortest onset is 3 days after birth, and the average age of onset is four to five years old; 2. It is more common in girls; 3. The segmental type is more common, followed by the localized type; 4. The eyes are easily affected; 5. The incidence of halo nevus is as high as 8.5%; 6. It is easy to cause isomorphic reactions after trauma; 7. Gastrointestinal dysfunction is obvious.

(II) Pediatric vitiligo treatment particularities: Conventional treatments that are not suitable for children include:

1. Systemic oral corticosteroids may cause systemic or local side effects;

2. Whole body phototherapy is not suitable for children under 12 years old; local phototherapy is not suitable for children under 5 years old;

3. Surgical transplantation is difficult for children to cooperate with and is not suitable.

The ones that can be used are :

1. Topical low- and medium-effective corticosteroids; 2. Immunopotentiators; 3. Trace elements; 4. Oral Chinese patent medicine, halved dosage.

(3) It is generally believed that the best time to treat children with vitiligo is when the disease is stable, that is, the area of ​​white spots no longer continues to expand for 3-6 months.