My son has vitiligo. I heard him telling a friend about it when he was in kindergarten. “What’s that?” the friend pointed at his knees and asked. “It’s a condition where your skin loses pigmentation,” my son answered. His friend crinkled his nose and said, “What?!” It is no fun having to explain why you look a certain way and that it is not contagious. It is because my son has vitiligo that I am writing this post about vitiligo supplements.
Before I delve deeper on what vitiligo is and supplements that may help vitiligo, I first want to be clear that I am not a doctor or qualified medial professional of any kind. The products I mention are the ones I am trying for my son’s vitiligo condition and his story is only representative of his personal experience. The products I mention are not intended to treat, prevent or cure any disease. Please consult with a qualified healthcare professional about any questions or concerns you may have.
Why Vitiligo Supplements May Be Helpful
Vitilago is a skin condition where patches of skin lose their color. The reason that Vitiligo supplements may be helpful is that Vitiligo has no known cure. It also has no one known cause. However, various treatments have stopped or slowed the discoloration process and even returned color to the affected skin.
In other words, some things seem to work for some people but not for others. The medical treatments of light therapy or steroid creams work for some a little, for some not at all, and for other’s they completely allow the skin to return to normal. The same can be said of the vitiligo supplements that are available.
I did lots of research on Vitiligo and the vitiligo supplements that I have chosen for my son are Recouleur Vitamin and Gingko biloba.
My Son’s Vitiligo Story
When my son, Leo, was two, he fell and skinned his knees on the pavement. They were just minor scratches really. However, instead of healing like young skin normally does so that you can hardly see they fell at all, the healed part stayed white. I was surprised that his knees scarred so easily and then that the scars seemed to grow to cover both of his whole knees by the time he was 3. I could hardly believe my eyes as it all happened rather slowly but eventually I was thought, “This can’t be right. His scars shouldn’t be growing and they really are!”
So I brought him to the doctor who recommended a dermatologist and they diagnosed it as vitiligo. She said it was probably brought on by the trauma to the skin. She told me our treatment options were light therapy which she didn’t recommend for him at his age and a steroid cream. We tried the steroid cream and it didn’t help.
So for a long while, I just did nothing as I felt I could do nothing.
At some point my mom asked her naturopath about it and he suggested probiotics and to stay away from milk. We tried both for awhile though I hated to keep him away from milk when I wasn’t sure it was a problem. I gave that up when he didn’t seem to feel or look any different after 3 months.
During this time of no treatment, the Vitiligo slowly spread down his legs. It also showed up on his feet, on his hands, and a tiny bit around his lips and eyes.
Gingko Biloba For Vitiligo
Then when Leo finally learned to swallow pills at around 12, I began looking for vitiligo supplements that might be helpful. The best supplement I found from my search was gingko biloba for vitiligo. According to the Vitiligo Research Foundation, “Ginkgo Biloba leaf extract is known to have anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory and antioxidant properties, thus potentially impacting the oxidative stress mechanisms of vitiligo.” On the other hand they do warn that, “There is possibility for an allergic reaction in patients with sensitivities to poison ivy, mangoes, cashews, and other alkyl-phenol producing plants.”
A BMC Complement Altern Med study titled, Ginkgo biloba for the treatment of vitilgo vulgaris: an open label pilot clinical trial, showed it has great promise for its ability to stop the spread of vitiligo and cause repigmentation. In fact, after 12 weeks of taking 60mg two times per day, “The progression of vitiligo stopped in all participants; the total VASI indicated an average repigmentation of vitiligo lesions of 15%.”
So while that is not a total cure, it was hope restored for this mama! Leo started taking Gilkgo Biloba and he has been taking it for about a year now. It did seem to stop the spread which is very good. Unfortunately, it did not seem to cause much, if any, return of color to his white skin patches.
Recouleur Vitamins For Vitiligo
I went back to the drawing board searching more more vitiligo supplements that might reverse Leo’s pigmentation loss. That is when I discovered a YouTube video of a presentation given at the Vitiligo Society by Simon Parker about his own partial vitiligo repigmentation success. In this video, I discovered the Recouleur Vitiligo Vitamin. I was intrigued and began researching it.
What I found attractive about the Recouleur Vitiligo Vitamin is that it is a compound of many vitamins and minerals that have been researched and shown helpful to those with vitiligo. In fact, Recouleur was founded by a woman in her search to help treat her own vitiligo and then to share her success with others. There is a lot of research on which vitamins are good for vitiligo, but if you went to add all those supplements to your diet, you might be overwhelmed. That is why I love Recouleur- the research about the proper vitamins and minerals, and the proper amounts of each has been done for you. Then they compounded it so that all you have to do is take one vitamin pill a day! In my book, these are clearly the best vitamins for vitiligo. I call it the vitiligo vitamin!
The Recouleur Vitiligo Vitamin is formulated to provide nutritional support for those with vitiligo. Clinical research shows that people with vitiligo can have abnormally low levels of folic acid, vitamins B12 and C, copper and zinc. Recouleur combines all these in one daily tablet! At this point, I reached out to Recouleur and I was provided with a sample bottle in order to facilitate review.
Recouleur Review
The first thing you need to know is, don’t be scared off by the price. One bottle of Recouleur is actually a six month supply. When you do the math on that, it actually quite reasonable! I put that in bold because it took me a bit to realize that was the case.
I plan to make Recouleur an ongoing part of Leo’s diet to make sure his body is getting the nutrition it needs. Nutritional deficiencies can have many negative consequences so I feel great making sure that I am addressing that.
To be clear, I will be happy with the Recouleur vitamins even if they have no effect on his skin repigmenting. This is because I will know he is getting his nutritional needs met. However, I do hope to see color return to his white patches too!
Generally, it can take between 2-3 months for skin to begin to repigment after you begin taking Recouleur.
Leo has been taking Recouleur for 3 weeks now. He thinks he is seeing dots of color return to some of his patches. In other areas he thinks the white just looks less white. It is a little hard for me to tell for sure at this early point. Above are his before and after photos with 3 weeks of supplementation.
Update 4/5/21: Leo still takes Recouleur to help fill any vitamin deficiencies but has not yet shown complete repigmentation. I think it is much improved though. You can judge for yourself in this post about the Vitiligo Skin Condition with an updated photo.
Where To Get Recouleur Vitiligo Vitamin
We are really happy with Leo’s progress. I feel very happy to know that with the Recouleur Vitiligo Vitamin is providing him the nutritional support he needs. You can visit recouleur.com to learn more or place your order!
Everybody should do their own due diligence in treating Vitiligo and speak to qualified medical professionals.
I’d love to hear about your journey with vitiligo! Share with me @familyfocusblog
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