COIMBATORE: In order to dispel myth and create awareness about Vitiligo – also called as leucoderma – and put an end to the discrimination and stigma associated with it, a one-day seminar is being organised here on February 18.

Vitiligo is nothing more than a skin condition and can be seen as patches or dots on the skin of people who have this, according to Leucoderma Awareness Movement, the organisers of the seminar.

The primary objective as part of the awareness programme is to inform people that leucoderma is neither a disease nor contagious, even as unfortunately, a large number of people do think otherwise and the movement has been striving very hard to remove such false notions prevalent in the society.

“When people who possess this skin condition come to know about it, they immediately begin to be affected at a very emotional level. They become tense, suffer from anxiety, become very sensitive and retract into a shell, develop an inferiority complex and suffer from other emotional trauma,” it said.

There are an estimated 37 lakh people in Tamil Nadu and about six crore people in India who suffer from this skin condition. Though Vitiligo is not life threatening, the trauma that is caused to such people is so much that it even drives them to resort to the extreme step of putting an end to their life.

Cashing in on their anxiety and desire to remove these white patches or dots on their skin, a number of dubious and bogus companies lure such gullible people with fake advertisements, offering to remove the dots in 20 hours or 30 hours.

To put an end to this, the Defence Research and Development Organisation developed Lukoskin, a medicine which on regular use will help in the reduction of the spots and eventually restoration of the original skin colour of the person who uses it.

The dosage lasts anywhere between 300 days and 400 days for the medicine to have complete impact and to restore the skin to its original colour.

A number of people who have used this medicine have benefitted immensely. The effects are so positive that not only their original skin condition, but even happiness and harmony in their families have been restored.