Gaurang Joshi
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Anaplastology
Leucoderma, also known as vitiligo is a skin disorder that affects nearly 2% of the world population. Allopathic system of medicine in widespread practice today offers palliative measures. There are many explanations as to why this happens but none of these explanations has been proven to be the right one. This also explains why there is no confirmed cure for leucoderma. Even after extensive scientific research, the treatments of leucoderma are still very scarce and have not been proven to work for a majority of people. The best patients can do is hide these marks with colour creams but it is to be noted, this only hides these marks and doesn't stop more patches of white skin from appearing. There is no explanation as to the location of these patches of skin. Also, a question that may rise is why only patches appear and not the whole body is affected. For this too there is no proven explanation. By contrast, the Charaka Samhita, a two thousand-year-old Indian ayurvedic text, provides a description of leucoderma (shvitra/kilasa) with recommendations for treatment. In this paper, a detailed ayurvedic analysis and approach to management will be presented. One herb that is useful in treating leucoderma and vitiligo is bakuchi/vakuchi (psorolia corolifolia) it is used as internal medication, external application, etc. It is used to prepare soaps, external applications, and internal medications by both ayurveda and modern pharmaceutical companies worldwide. Modern scientific research agrees that this herbal application acts on melanoblastic cells and successfully stimulates it.
Gaurang Joshi, (B.A.M.S. Gold medalist, Gujarat Ayurved University, M.D.(Alternative Medicine), International Ayurveda Consultant, Expert Ayurveda Skin Specialist, Director-Atharva Multispeciality Ayurveda Hospital, Panchakarma and Skin Care Hospital, Rajkot, President-International Psoriasis Foundation, Organizing Secretary-International Conference on Ayurved and CAM, Rajayucon 2013. He has published more than 12 papers in National and International Conferences on Dermatology and Oncology research, was been invited by University of Indonesia, Dept. of Pharmaceuticals Sciences as a Guest speaker in International Symposium September 2011.
