HANNIE PANKRAS HAS THE CONDITION VITILIGO

“Of course I said yes when you asked if I wanted to participate in an interview about vitiligo. But I don't think it's that special," Hannie Pankras begins her story. “Vitiligo is a skin condition in which pigment cells disappear. These are the cells that give color to your skin. This is how the milky white spots appear on the skin.”

Vitiligo can start at any age. It occurs in men and women. During hormonal moments such as puberty, pregnancy or menopause, it can suddenly start or worsen. It is a hereditary condition, so it is in the genes and is not contagious.

Hannie's story
“I was a young teenager when I got spots on my knees. The doctors didn't know what it was. Exactly at that time I also moved from a small village to a big city. That together meant that I went through quite a difficult adolescence,” says Hannie. “Later I knew what it was and I took some action in the hope that it would help. Light therapy, for example. But it didn't benefit me.” Because vitiligo is a skin condition, Hannie regularly went to the dermatologist for check-ups and advice. “There I saw people in the waiting room with all kinds of itchy and inflammatory skin conditions. Then I was lucky,” she laughs. “Vitiligo doesn't hurt, it doesn't itch and it doesn't become inflamed. But it never goes away!”

Pregnancy
“During my pregnancies, hormones were raging through my body. I could clearly notice that in the vitiligo, more and more spots appeared. Most of them are on my body, I also have spots on my knees and elbows. Some time ago I experienced a kind of 'internal tickle' just under my lip, an announcement that I now recognize. Recently there has been a white spot there.”

Living with vitiligo
Anyone who has vitiligo should take this into account. It requires a number of adjustments in daily life. For example, the right sun protection. Sometimes people want vitiligo (for example on the face) to camouflage the spots. There are also people who want to know who they can go to for help, because they are having a lot of difficulty with it. Everyone experiences it differently.
Hannie: “Maybe it's my West Frisian mentality, but I keep saying: I have spots, but don't we all have something?”

New developments
Research has now shown that the whitened skin of vitiligo patients can be implanted in people with skin cancer. In this way they use the condition of one person to solve the disease of another. “Research is good, because the more we know about it, the better we can help and guide people with the condition.”

Do you have vitiligo and/or would you like to know more about it?
More information can be found at www.vitiligo.nl