Life in my body... with vitiligo
Natalie Ambersley, 37, an executive assistant from London, talks about living with the skin-pigmentation condition
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I was three, I developed a small white patch on the back of my hand. Back then, vitiligo (a condition where pigment is lost from the skin) wasn’t well known, so when my parents took me to the doctor, they were just told to keep an eye on it. By the time I was five, and had my vitiligo diagnosed, 75% of my body was covered in white patches. I was too young to know what was going on, but my parents were worried and tried to find treatment for me. I was in and out of hospital a lot – it became like a second home. By the time I was 12, I’d been through so many rounds of tablets, creams and homeopathy that I felt like a guinea pig. I told my parents I wanted to stop, and they were so supportive.
In my teenage years, though, I grew more uncomfortable. It seemed like I was the only person in the world with this condition. When we had swimming lessons at school, I’d forge letters from my mum so I didn’t have to go. On holiday with friends in Spain, I’d be boiling in thick tights and a blazer. If someone stared at me, I’d immediately cover up more.
When I turned 30 I decided to try treatment again. I’d heard of something called UVB narrowband therapy, where you stand in a booth emitting UVB light to try to help your skin repigment. There was only a 50-50 chance it would work, and it gave me an increased risk of skin cancer. The appointments were quite disruptive too – twice a week for a year – but I wanted to try it. Three months in, I began to get my natural skin colour back, and after a year, I finished the treatment. I still had vitiligo, but I was now 30% affected, rather than 75%.
That was seven years ago, and although the patches are starting to return I won’t go back to treatment. A few years ago I was invited on a TV show to talk about my condition. At first I was adamant that I couldn’t do it, but eventually I came round to the idea and that was a turning point. After the programme aired, people started to send me supportive messages and I had the realisation that it was OK.
Now, I feel liberated. I look down at my legs and think I’d be horrified if I woke up and my vitiligo wasn’t there; it would be like I had erased something that made me who I am. I’m proud to have a skin condition I now love. For support, contact The Vitiligo Society; Vitiligosociety.org