Vitiligo is a chronic skin disease where portions of the skin have white patches due to skin pigment loss, sort of like when someone suffers from 3-degree burns, but more pronounced. It occurs when skin pigment cells die or are unable to function. The cause is unknown but few theories range from autoimmunity, genetics to viral causes. There is no cure.
Canadian-born model, Winnie Harlow (real name Chantelle Young-Brown) from Etobicoke, Ontario, has this disease but has not let it hold her back in life. She was a former “America’s Next Top Model” contestant and although she did not win, her attitude was right on track even then as she told The New York Post in a 2014 article:
“[There was] an uproar on social media. I said, ‘Calm down. It’s just a show — and a reality show at that.’ I was cracking up.”