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Inheriting leucoderma from parents, reducing risk of inheriting leucoderma

My father is having leucoderma what is the probability that my children get the same?
( 2 Mar 2009)

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Leukoderma is indeed genetic and to some extent hereditary, so unfortunately, there is a chance that your children will also develop leukoderma. It is of course not possible to guess the probability with any degree of accuracy or certainty, but you can be certain that the chances, although they do exist, are not very high. You should therefore avoid worrying too much about the possibility of your children developing leukoderma. You can of course gather some basic information about the condition. But apart from that, you simply need be alert, so that if ever it does occur, then you know how to deal with it. You should however avoid stressing yourself out unnecessarily in advance, as there is not much that you can do to prevent or treat leukoderma, and the condition is not really harmful anyway. The main problem is with the appearance, and while this can be quite traumatic for the patient, it is mainly a superficial, cosmetic problem. It is therefore important for you as a parent to be supportive and encouraging more than anything else, and to help your child realize that the problem is a minor if prominent one, and much worse afflictions are possible. A good way to do this would be to discuss your father's condition freely - you should not pretend that it does not exist, nor should you make too big a deal about it.

One thing you can do to reduce the risk of your children developing vitiligo (another name for leukoderma) is to avoid excessive exposure to sunlight. It is thought that a case of sunburn might trigger the development of leukoderma in the areas that were sunburned. This has not yet been conclusively proven, but it is better to be on the safe side, especially since a sunburn is anyway quite unpleasant, and is known to be linked to the development of skin cancer. Stress is also thought to be a partial trigger in the development of leukoderma. It is of course impossible to avoid stress all through one's life, but whenever possible, it is certainly good to minimize stress.

In case one of your children does develop leukoderma, the main precaution that needs to be taken is to control exposure to sunlight. Since the white patches of skin do not have melanin to protect them, these areas are much more susceptible to sunburn, and therefore skin cancer, than normal skin.

answered by G S on 2 Mar 2009, 3:42:03

 

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