Loss of Pigmatation on genitals

[Josh572]

hello, over the past few years, I have noticed a loss of pigmentation on my genitals.  As you can imagine, it is extremely embarrassing.  It has encomposed around 20% of the scrotum and small patches on the penis.  It is offwhite in color.  I haven't noticed it growing at all in the past couple of years, and thus did not find it necessary to go to a doctor about it.  I also have a very small patch of pigmentation loss on my face too, but it is not nearly as large as the other region.  My question is, what could it be?  and if there is any over the counter treatments available.          

[jing360]

i have a white spots at my right eyebrow and my eyebrow getting white also, the doctor said is vitiligo and cannot cure?but its getting bigger i started to worry

[Vanessa Lacuesta]

Hi,

One differential for white spots in the genitalia is vitiligo. Vitiligo refers to loss of skin pigmentation due to a disorder of the melanocytes (cells that gives pigment or color to the skin). The white patches would usually present with sharply demarcated borders and may affect the genitals. They may also appear in other parts of the body. Other differentials will be a tinea or fungal infection. Tinea versicolor may appear as light patches of skin that may show a slight or minimal scaling .They may be slightly itchy. As a fungal infection, the use of antifungal medications will be able to help for tinea infections.

I suggest that you have this assessed by your physician.Vitiligo and fungal infections are just differentials here.I do not want to cause further worries. As differentials they will only guide your physician in choosing the appropriate tests for your condition and they can be excluded along the way.

With vitiligo as a probable differential,it is best to have this assessed by your physician early on. Do not apply any medications on the area until your physician has evaluated this. Some OTC medicatons if not appropriate for the condition may only cause further irritation.