Vitiligo and its Medicinal Plants from the Viewpoint of Iranian Traditional Medicine

Abstract Vitiligo as a common depigmenting skin disorder plays a very important role in patient’s quality of life. It can cause serious emotional stress, which necessitates its treatment. Because of lack of desirable efficacy of conventional therapies, considering complementary therapies for the management of vitiligo is increasing. The aim of this article is to describe Iranian traditional medicine (ITM) approach to vitiligo mechanism and prognosis as well as medicinal plants proposed for the management of this disease. ITM believes human body organs consist of four fundamental humors. All of them are composed of very specific quantity and quality and any kind of diseases supposedly, is the result of excess or deficit of these humors. Changes in the quantity of “phlegm humor” and improper function of “expulsive faculty” are two main causes of vitiligo. In this paper, the vitiligo prognosis according to ITM and recommended herbal medicines according to the stage of disease have been explained.