Hey everybody, sorry if I do not get back to everyone personally but I appreciate the feedback soo much, and also the comments. It means a lot to me that there are so many more people out there with vitiligo,, to know that we are all going through the same thing,, and that we are the only ones that knows what if feels like to really be different. It's been a year since I got the tattoos and it still looks great. I just added a few more to my foot and ankle areas, I will get those pics up soon. I know that I dont have vitiligo on my face or arms, but I still know how it feels to be looked at crazy and talked about. For those out there that have it more severe please just try to stay positive. I think there is a reason why we were chosen to have this disease, I think we all need to play a part in getting awarness out about vitiligo and help others with it. Much love to my Vitiligans!

My tattoos

Well since my last post I have gotten a lot of tattoos over some of my vitiligo areas as you can see. I couldn't think of anything else to do. Obviously I could not afford such a surgery and I already had some tattoos, so I thought what a great idea! Much cheaper! And I have never been so happy in my life and if anything, way more confident. When I went outside for the first time in shorts this summer, I felt soo weird! It felt like everyone was staring at my vitiligo, but then people started commenting on how nice my tattoo was! I was thinking "I can get used to this!" I feel truly blessed. I hope myself along with other people with this disease can get as much awarness out as possible. Thanks to everyone that has supported me.

THERE IS HOPE...CHECK THIS OUT

Hello, my name is Patrick I live in San Francisco and work for Genentech. It is a medical research company that has done vast amounts of research with stem cells. Stem cells are like blank cells or think of them as blank CD's ready to be recorded with any information you want to put on them. Now we call them Alpha cells ( Greek letter for the first or A ) now with these Alpha cells we can inject them with the cooresponding RNA or DNA chromosonal code and the cells then become new cells taking on the characteristics of the injection locale or cells that have been damaged. They ( the cells) then form new healthy cells to replace the damaged cells through mitosis. Or the splitting of cells. Eventually all the damaged cells are replaced by new healthy cells. The National Institute of Health has recently featured an article from Iranian dermatologists that injected adult stem cells into a vitiligo patient, he was cured. 100%. Period. He does not have vitiligo anymore. Now the only drawback here is research has been limited through government law we are limited by what we are allowed to do. We must use the same cells without extracting new ones which limits our ability to move forward . However, with our new President he is going to lift the ban on stem cells research so we can move forward. And with the FDA making sure all treatments and medicines are tested thoroughly it can take time for cures to come from other places. But we know the cure now. We just need to be able to do our research. As you know the pigment is formed by melanin, melanin formed by tyrosine and phenylalnine both amino acids all we need to do is stop the body from destroying the cells. Because vitiligo is an auto immune disorder we could theoretically repigment your body by grafts and UB narrow band therapy. But the body auto immune response would eventually kill them. So all we need is the stem cells to cure this. So dont worry the cure is here and all we need is a few more months as soon as the stem cell ban is lifted and we can get the cure out there. It will not be long. Dont worry. In less than 5 years you will have all your pigment back and be cured of vitiligo I would bet money on it. And as a scientist I never gamble. But this is something that you can relax knowing you will not have to deal with this for very long.

Me and my Vitiligo

Me and my Vitiligo

http://www.vitiligo.net//

Where to go from here

The doctor from Cincinnati referred me to a doctor in California. He was very informative. After sending him pictures of my vitiligo he estimated the cost of surgery to be $14,000, not including hospital stay. Of course insurance will not pay a dime because it is considered cosmetic. I have since then written the Ellen show and Tyra show to see if they would talk about this topic and I have heard nothing. The reason I am now coming out about this more than ever is beacause I am just tired of living like this. I am getting older and I know that anything is possible,dreams can come true and I am not going to give up just yet. People that do not have vitiligo may not understand, but those of us that do knows what it feels like to have people stare and say things under their breath. If anyone reading this has vitiligo please send me your pics, maybe you can give me some advice.