People with Vitiligo tend to loose skin pigmentation in patches.
Does the hair growing out of those patches also lose pigment?
Not necessarily, but it is indicative of how treatable the vitiligo is.
I won’t give a cite (except my anecdotal “evidence”), but in some people, premature whitening of the hair carries with it the same implication as vitiligo does in the skin. Specifically, it may indicate a tendency to so-called autoimmune conditions (recall that vitiligo is often due to antibodies against the melanocytes, i.e. the pigmented cells in the skin. So, not too surprising that other autoimmune conditions can be associated with vitiligo).
I’ve made a number of spot diagnoses of thyroiditis, for example, simply by noting people’s (prematurely) white hair.
I’ve always attributed my premature graying to the thyroid problem I had in my early 30s, but I’ve wondered if my nearly full-body vitiligo might have had something to do with it. Maybe now that the thyroid’s gone and I’m stable on medication the rest of my hair won’t follow the front portion and go gray after all!
Of course, any graying I experience nowadays can’t, in all fairness, be called “premature”.
(I’ll start worrying about auto-immune disorders now.)
Not on me. Normal hair there.
Adding to the anecdotal evidence :dubious: - it can do. MrsMarcus has had vitiligo since she was a girl and the hairs on the white patches are themselves white/grey.
I have lost about 99% of my skin pigment, permanently. I have a few specs of my original color and I get freckles in the summer.
As far as my hair is concerned, the hair on my head and arm pits has always been black. But, once for a brief period, I briefly had a white spot on the back of my head that eventually disappeared as it appeared. And, on one of my eyebrows I also had a white patch that came and went. The rest of the hair on my body changes its black/white hair pattern. I have some areas that are permanently white and black and the rest changes. At one point my goatee was totally white whilst my hair was black. That was kinda cool as it was “albino” white and not a grey or bleached out white. But, now its spotty and the pattern is somewhat asymmetrical which would just make me look shabby.
It seems that usually it doesn’t have effect. A relative of Mine has distinct white areas on his face and arms, the hair and beard however are evenly black everywhere.