MyVitiligoTeam Writing Staff | Eric Peacock

Eric Peacock

Eric Peacock, co-founder, and CEO of MyHealthTeam — the company that created MyVitiligoTeam — has vitiligo and first started getting his spots around first grade. He can still recall his mother asking his pediatrician about it during an annual physical back in elementary school about 40 years ago and him saying, “It’s vitiligo — lack of pigmentation in the skin. Only about 1 in a million people get it. Harmless, nothing to do about it.”

As we know now, this quick explanation was, at best, wrong. Eric went ~40 years not knowing that vitiligo actually affects 1 in 100 people, that it's an autoimmune condition, and that there are treatments for those who want them. He went on with his life, plastering on sunscreen to avoid spots turning all pink and painful in the summers, assuming he was in this alone, and otherwise trying to ignore it. Because Eric has light skin, spots on his face are much less noticeable in the non-summer months. Vitiligo hasn’t affected his life nearly as much as it has an impact on many of the wonderful people on this social network, but it sure is nice to know there is a community of people who understand what it's like to live with vitiligo.

Eric hopes by sharing his story, you’ll be inspired to share your own stories and experiences, your tips and your life hacks with the other folks on MyVitiligoTeam. The real power of MyVitiligoTeam comes from connecting with each other and sharing our personal experiences with vitiligo. You are not alone and you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. None of us do.