City pollution causing skin diseases?

Pollution causing skin problems?
The Hindu

After Shwetha Sen (name changed) moved here from Mumbai this February, she noticed `leucoderma-like' patches on her forehead. The Mumbai dermatologist she consulted told her it might be because of the pollution levels here.

The treatment involved applying an ointment on the patch and then exposing it to sunlight so that ultra violet rays would be absorbed.

Later, Ms. Sen went to a homoeopath.

Leucoderma, also known as vitiligo, literally means white skin, for there is a gradual loss of the pigment melanin from the skin layer. Increasingly, more and more Bangaloreans are seen to be developing this skin condition.

Studies

There have been many studies abroad on how urban life affects a person's skin. A 1997 University of California, Berkeley, study found that air pollution led to conditions such as atopic dermatitis, psoriasis and other ailments causing itchy, red, inflamed and scaly skin.

While there have been no systematic studies here on a condition such as leucoderma, dermatologists agree that pollution could be a cause. A dermatologist at St. John's said he saw at least 10 cases of leucoderma every day. Told about Ms. Sen's case, he said it could be owing to a sudden climate change. "It is dry here whereas Mumbai is a coastal area."

He often had patients with contact dermatitis — an inflammation of the skin or a rash caused by contact with substances (for example, the detergents on washed clothes, the nickel in watchstraps, bracelets and necklaces, and certain cosmetics).

High pollution

Ms. Sen commutes daily to the Bommasandra Industrial Area. She travels on Hosur Road, a stretch that is choked with traffic most of the time. Air quality is therefore extremely poor in this area.

Dermatologists differ on what actually causes leucoderma. A dermatologist with a clinic in HAL 2nd Stage said: "We don't really know why it happens but there are several causative factors — stress, hormonal changes (because of hypothyroidism) and so on.