When patches of your skin are losing color, you want to know why. The first step should be to talk with your healthcare provider. They’ll run some tests to find out if you should be diagnosed with vitiligo or another condition.

Understanding how vitiligo is diagnosed can help you feel more at ease throughout the process. This knowledge can also give you confidence that your doctor will get to the bottom of what’s going on and help you find the treatment you need.

Diagnosing Vitiligo

The path to vitiligo diagnosis is generally straightforward. Your primary care provider may feel comfortable diagnosing it. Sometimes, they may refer you to a dermatologist, a skin specialist who knows how to test for vitiligo and has training that allows them to distinguish it from similar skin conditions.

Typically, during the process of vitiligo diagnosis, your doctor will take a medical history and perform a physical examination. They may also conduct one or more of the tests discussed below.

Medical History

Your doctor will likely take a medical history during your appointment. They may ask questions about the following topics:

Physical Exam

The dermatologist will conduct a full-body examination to evaluate your skin. This can help them find patches of depigmentation that you might have missed. It can also help them determine the type of vitiligo to diagnose you with.

They’ll note factors like whether the depigmented patches are symmetrical (on both sides of your body), affect only skin that gets exposed to the sun, and appear in patterns or seem random.

Wood’s Lamp Test

If you have a light skin tone or if your doctor has questions about certain affected areas of skin, they may use a Wood’s lamp to look at the affected areas of your body. This lamp shines ultraviolet light on your skin. Areas that are depigmented will look different under the lamp than they do in regular light, even if all of your skin is pale.

Skin Biopsy

If your doctor isn’t sure that vitiligo is the right diagnosis, they may also do a skin biopsy. During this procedure, they’ll take a sample of the affected skin to be examined under a microscope. If your melanocytes (pigment cells) are missing, this supports a diagnosis of vitiligo.

Blood Tests

If your doctor needs more information before they’re comfortable diagnosing you with vitiligo, they may order one or more blood tests. They’ll take a sample of your blood and send it to a laboratory to check for other conditions associated with vitiligo.

Blood tests may also help with the diagnosis of other conditions that are often related to vitiligo, such as thyroid disease or diabetes. If you have signs or symptoms of other health issues, they may order blood tests to find out if you also have an autoimmune condition and need additional medical care.

Eye and Ear Tests Related to Vitiligo

In addition to skin symptoms, vitiligo can cause problems in your eyes and your ears.

Vitiligo is associated with an increased risk of an eye inflammation condition called uveitis. Your doctor may ask you to have your eyes checked if they think you have vitiligo. This isn’t part of being diagnosed with the condition, but it’s part of understanding how vitiligo is affecting all the parts of your body so you can get the treatment you need.

Vitiligo can also affect the ears, causing partial hearing loss in some people. Even if you haven’t noticed problems with your hearing, your doctor may want you to get it tested to understand everything that’s going on in your body.

Talk to Your Doctor

If you think you’re experiencing symptoms of vitiligo, talk to a doctor or dermatology provider right away. They’ll get you the diagnostic assessments you need so you can figure out what’s going on. From there, you can determine if you’d like to pursue treatment options.