Richard A. Spritz, MD

Vitiligo is an autoimmune disease in which complex interactions between genetic predisposition and environmental triggering induce loss of tolerance to melanocyte antigens. Over 50 relevant genes have been identified, additively contributing about 80 percent of total disease risk. While specific environmental triggers have yet to be identified, dramatic delay in vitiligo age-of-onset over the past few decades indicates a major recent change in relevant vitiligo environmental triggering.