Gaby Klaas has the skin condition vitiligo
When Gaby Klaas (37) got vitiligo, she found it very difficult to accept herself as she is. But after the birth of her daughters, the switch changed.
“I was 24 when I first vitiligo got. During that time I regularly went to the tanning bed, where I put on a remedy to protect my new tattoo. After I finished tanning, I discovered a white spot on my eyelid. At first I thought it was because of that remedy, but later I discovered more and more stains. Then I went to the doctor, who referred me to a dermatologist. I turned out to have vitiligo.
“My world collapsed when I was found to have vitiligo”
I’m Indonesian, so you can clearly see the white spots. I was never very confident so when I got this my world collapsed. Mainly because doctors didn’t know what helped. There was no guarantee it wouldn’t come back. Still, in the beginning I tried to do everything so that I could become ‘normal’ again. I have tried ointments and PUVA, a kind of light therapy. You then have to take a bath with medication, after which you stand in front of UVA lamps. This ensures that your skin produces pigment again. That helped for a while, because I got some pigment back. You can’t just do that for years, because then you have a higher risk of skin cancer. So I stopped doing that at some point.
I also had regular light therapy, a kind of standing tanning bed. In the end, both treatments and ointments helped somewhat, but my skin has not completely tanned anymore. In fact, the spots are now all over my body. You see it especially in my face, on my hands, feet and on my neck.
That gave me mental problems, so I sought help and it helped. But the real salvation was that I had my daughters. Then the switch turned for me. I really want to teach my children that they are beautiful the way they are and that they can be themselves. If you want to get that across, you have to believe it yourself. That was the trigger for me to accept it.
Autoimmune disease
According to doctors, the fact that the disease started in me is probably related to my thyroid. I’ve always been a thyroid patient; he used to work too fast, now too slow. In thyroid disease, your immune system does not work properly. Vitiligo is said to be an autoimmune disease, so that could explain it.
What do I want to pass on to others with vitiligo? I think the moment you accept yourself as you are, life is much easier than if you are constantly looking at it. People around you will also accept it. Moreover, there are plenty of people who like it because it is special. But the most important thing is that you consider yourself a beautiful person, with or without spots.”
This article also appeared in +Gezond June 2022.
Sources):
- Plus Healthy
