First ever piebald mermaid!

[Mermaid Enora]

Disclamer: as far as I known I'm the only mermaid with a piebald tail and vitiligo skin to match.
If there are any others, I'd love to know.

So what is piebald and what is vitiligo?
The two terms are essentially the same condition, but piebald occurs in animals, birds, fish, reptiles and vitiligo occurs in humans.
Both consist of patches of skin, fur, hair, or scales that lack any pigmentations (color) and are thus completely white/albino.
The patches may be big, small, few, many, or almost completely taken over the original skin tone.
It often occurs most frequently in people and critters with darker skin tones. It does however occur across the races and all animals, fish, reptiles, birds, etc without partiality.
It's not commonly found in nature in critters as the white patches do not allow for easy blending with the environment and the creature is most likely to not survive long due to predators.

Vitiligo is a auto-immune disorder that occurs in less than 1% of the worlds population.
Not a lot is known about the ins and outs of how or why vitiligo works.
A common thought is that stress can trigger or increase the growth of vitiligo.
Vitiligo causes extreme sun sensitivity in those who have it in large quantities.
The skin is stripped of its color and in doing so all the natural protection from the sun is gone.
Vitiligo usually comes in semi matching patches that correspond to other patches on the body.
Such as if a person has vitiligo on the right elbow most likely the left elbow also has vitiligo but perhaps not the same size patch of white.
Vitiligo mostly grows at the joints.
Most vitiligo is genetically linked.

On to my tail and vitiligo!
I have a fairly extreme case of vitiligo. It covers more than 75% of my skin.
My vitiligo was spread out very symmetrically; but in recent years its all started blending together really fast. I've had vitiligo for 20 years and it really picked up speed during nursing school and hasn't slowed down yet.
Both of my maternal grandparents had vitiligo. My grandpa was almost completely white by the time he was 40ish. My grandma never had very much at all. My paternal grandmother has premature graying and my hair is headed that way in both areas with vitiligo and areas without.
My skin doesn't do well in direct sunshine from about 11am to 4pm. I normally swim with long tights and long sleeved surfing rash guards since sunscreen doesn't work for long after I get wet.
With out sunscreen in direct sunlight I get 2nd degree sunburns after about 30 minutes.
It's very painful when it sunburns. I tried once to go swimming with sunscreen and no coverup and it was a really bad idea. I could hardly move for two weeks after due to the blistering of my skin.
I've always wanted to have a piebald mermaid tail to match my skin. The vitiligo on my legs is much more pronounced than my arms and torso. The peibalding on my tail matches the same patterning of vitiligo on my legs. The piebaldism would be more striking on a patterned tail such as a mantis shrimp where the white patches would completely disrupt the pattern. As this is my first tail to make, I didn't make any patterns on it. Besides I've always wanted a turquoise piebald tail anyway.
As my tail needs sequin repairs as time goes on I plan to repair it mostly with white scales to reflect the spreading vitiligo on my skin.

I've attached some pics below.
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I am curious though, any other mers on here that either have vitiligo or know of anyone with vitiligo.
Any questions about vitiligo?

[Echidna]

That was an interesting read.
Thanks for explaining!
I take it piebald is different from white markings on fur animals often have?

I don't know of mers with vitiligo, but I've seen pics of people with the condition.
It looks striking on darkskinned people. I'm not sure if I would have noticed something on you though.

At any rate, I find your idea to incorporate the piebald into your tail intriguing.
It's great when the tail really matches your entire mersona.
And it's a really pretty tail too :)

[OceanWhisper]

I know three people that have it :) I think it's beautiful, and makes a person even more unique

[Mermaid Enora]

Piebald is different than say a dog with a white spot on its back. However, paint/pinto ponies do have the condition, but it is transmitted to all the offspring so its not as noticeable.
I'm going to put up a pic of my legs and ankles later, its much more noticeable than on my upper body. My natural skin tone is very olive/mediterranean in coloring. But from my waist up including my face the vitiligo has almost completely taken over. I was really hurting to finish my tail before too much more of the vitiligo took over. My legs retain much more of my original coloring. My arms used to as well even just a year ago, but its changing really fast.

[Lucinda]

Thanks for posting. This is both informative AND an interesting artistic choice. I didn't know what vitiligo was before you brought it up.

Nifty tail too! :)

[Merman Dan]

I am familiar with the story of the Canadian model with vitiligo (http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/canadian-model-with-vitiligo-inspires-fashion-world-1.2234731). I find the prospect of a piebald mermaid to be outstanding!

[Mermaid Momo]

I have vitiligo too, though it hasn't affected me as much as it has my brother and sister (my brother has lost almost all pigment in his back and chest, my sister has a large patch of un-pigmented skin under her chin. I just have a few sections on my back )

[AniaR]

You are so cool!!! :D

[Kitty Kyuppi]

You look gorgeous, and I really love your tail and the fact that it's pattern matches your legs!
I had heard of vitiligo before but I never really knew what it was, thank you for explaining~ (^o^)b

[Mermaid Lorelei]

My cousin has vitiligo and it's been spreading on her pretty consistently for the last few years.

I love your tail and I think it's such a beautiful way to incorporate your natural skin into your mersona! And I can only imagine how children with vitiligo would react to finding a mermaid like them.

[Spindrift]

I learned something! I've only ever been familiar with the term piebald when it comes to horses, which in that context means a horse that is black with white patches. Skewbald is if the color is anything else other than black.

[MermaidBrandie]

I love those idea so much. :) I have a small birthmark above my knee, maybe I should put a similar mark on my tail? That's such a great idea.


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[Fifi Tigg]

So unique and gorgeous :mermaid kiss:

[Mermaid Silverlilly]

Wow amazing tail design Idea I really knew nothing about this! I am close to being albino but I don't have Vitiligo but its amazing the sequin tail you have made :)

[jvry8c]

Awesome tail idea and you should be comfortable in your own skin so to speak. I have been friends with a girl with vitiligo for awhile now. She was kind of taken aback when I told her I thought it looked really cute since it looked like she had spots but then again I'm an odd person. She was very embarrassed about it especially when she was growing up.

[Mermaid Galene]

What a great idea, Enora! You're not only celebrating your uniqueness, but you've created a very realistic sea creature for your mersona. Well done.

[Sherielle]

I love this!!!!

[Mermaid Enora]

So here's my legs...
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Its much more noticeable than on my torso.

Dan, I do follow news about chantelle, I find it interesting to see how fashion and the media react to vitiligo
Momo, yea for more mers with vitiligo!! I figured that statistically there had to be at least one other person on here with vitiligo. Anyone else in your extended family have vitiligo?
Lorelei, there's a children's camp in Texas for kids with skin disorders, quite a lot of kids with vitiligo attend. I'm hoping to offer them some volunteer meet and greets this summer.
Spindrift, sometime down the road I really want to make a skewbald (light tan and white) paint pony centaur costume to match my skin. But that's going to take some time to work out how to make it all work. :)

I've never been very shy about my vitiligo ever. I've had it most of my life so I've had time to get used to it and to peoples stares and questions. I've only ever snapped at someone once for asking. I was at a summer camp when I was about 12 and two boys were whispering behind my back in line for the water slide and then they asked me what disease I had. I got kinda mad, but that's the only time.
I also used to wear a ton of make up and stain on my arms and legs, but this past year since my arms are almost completely white I've stopped the body make up. Mostly I just don't really care about it anymore. I use dermablend on my face as its made specifically to cover vitiligo and has SPF protection in it. I wish the vitiligo on my face would hurry up so I wouldn't have to cover the uneven skin tone as much.

[Carousel_Moon]

Horse nerd here; Paint horses/piebald/pinto/skewbald is a genetic for markings not a loss of pigmentation condition that develops over time, what you might look into is chimera and somatic mutation in horses. Somatic is where a gene is 'switched off' and another colour shows.
Vitaligo does exist in horses but is rare and is called vitiligo.
Colour genetics in variety of animals is different, some have albino others don't for example.
Your tail is gorgeous, and anyone with Vitiligo is beautiful to me inside and out :)

[Natacia Rothero]

Hi I actually do have vitiligo. Though I do have to say you pictures are very pretty

[Mermaid Enora]

yea for more mers with vitiligo!

[Sabrina the Selkie]

Welcome! That is a beautiful tail, and it matches your beautiful skin perfectly. ♡

[MerShellly]

Vitiligo makes me think of Dalmatians. Most dogs have solid colors except them, yet dalmatians are very expensive, very unique, and very pretty!

[Nashoba]

First of all, this entire thread is so awesome and beautiful. Really warms my heart.


Second, Coyote, I like your idea of mimicking your birthmark on your tail! I think it's great when we can use our Mersonas to embrace all of the things that make us gorgeous, unique and different.

[Yulia]

This is so cool! Your tail is super pretty! :)
I've been thinking of doing something like this myself, I have a birthmark near my eye that's not very common to have there.
http://photos-c.ak.instagram.com/hphotos-ak-xfa1/t51.2885-15/10784926_936748976354210_45096103_n.jpg

[Mermaid Enora]

Yulia, I think that'd look great on your tail maybe as a wavy section down one side?
Coyote walker, love the idea of the birthmark on your tail as well
For a while I've been thinking of how the mer community would respond to all this, but I never expected to be such an inspiration to others! I can't wait to see when and how all this pans out!!

[Nashoba]

Yulia,

Oh, it looks like clouds! And it would be great to play that up with some beautiful makeup and glitter!

[Mermaid Jaffa]

Nice! Your blue tail suits you very well.

[Mermaid Enora]

Thanks Jaffa!
I forgot to mention one fun fact about the vitiligo. My spots glow bright white under black light the same way a white shirt would glow in contrast to say a pair of jeans

[maemermaid]

First, your tail is amazing. Second, you might be a genius for combining something so unique about yourself into your mermaid life. And third, you are a tail-flippin' BEAUTIFUL mermaid! It kills me...

[Rebekah.fish]

This was very informative and it's awesome how open you are about explaining your condition! And I love love love how you really made your tail a part of YOU! So awesome :)

[Mermaid Wesley]

Ugh I love this. Your skin makes your tail look more real and just plain old badass. <3


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[Mermaid Enora]

This was very informative and it's awesome how open you are about explaining your condition! And I love love love how you really made your tail a part of YOU! So awesome :)


Ugh I love this. Your skin makes your tail look more real and just plain old badass. <3
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Aw thanks y'all!!!
Here's another pic that I hadn't posted before.
It's one of my favs and shows the vitiligo on my arm better.
The underarm part of my upper arm is completely white so if I'm laying down with my arms above me all that shows is the white part.

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[Mermaid Pickles]

You gorgeous fish, you.

[Merfin_Aurora_Oceania]

Way to go girl, its nice to see how ou embrace yourself and add that to your tail, very nice and thank you for sharing.

[Coradion]

Lovely! One of my good friends has vitiligo as well.

[Rett]

What a heartwarming thread! I think its fantastic how you have incorporated a part of you into your tail. So unique and pretty! :D

[Vrindavana Starfish]

Wait, you glow under backlight too? That's like, a superpower.

[Mermaid Enora]

Wait, you glow under backlight too? That's like, a superpower.
Yep! The vitiligo glows bright white in contrast to my regular skin tone. I wish I had a pic of it.
I do have a black light flash light I'll try to get some pics tonight maybe. :)

[Merfin_Aurora_Oceania]

I found a video just right for you ;) Check out my right whale post in Just Talk forum :)

[Mermaid Enora]

Here's my legs under black light!
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had a little trouble since the black light was kinda weak and I was trying to hold it and take the pic at the same time.

The purple effect of the black light on the vitiligo was glaring on my skin it was really hard to photograph.

[Mermaid Enora]

oops, almost forgot the other photo.
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[Merfin_Aurora_Oceania]

Its like bioluminescence that you see under water with all the cool UV looking sea creatures hehehe, so unique :D

[Mermaid Enora]

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My tail looks pretty cool under black light too!
I wish I could get a ton of black lights around a swimming pool and swim at night and get a video.
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[AniaR]

I met a little girl with this recently and I told her about you and she got teary eyed!

[Rebekah.fish]

That's too awesome !

[Vrindavana Starfish]

Ok you're just too cool stahp it. :)

[Mermaid Enora]

I met a little girl with this recently and I told her about you and she got teary eyed!

Ah Raina that just made my day!
and now I wish I had some sort of website or something that you could have refered her to for pictures of my tail.
I'll have to give that some thought.

[Mermaid Enora]

so the dark side to having vitiligo is extreme sunburns. I was in key west this past week and thought that I could stay in the shade and out of the sun. I hate the greasy feel of sunscreen on my skin (i use spray on neutrogena sport).
I paid for my lack of greasiness with the worst sunburn I've had in a while. The pics below show my shoulders after about 3 hours in non direct sunlight. Its a second degree burn in a few places with blisters. The pic is also from 4 days later and the burn will probably remain for around a month.
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The burns were purple in color for a few days after the photos.

[Sabrina the Selkie]

That is INTENSE.

[Mermaid Pickles]

OUCH. Yeesh, only ever had ONE burn that bad and it was on my back. Last time I ever was out in the middle of the day, too.

[Sabrina the Selkie]

I've never been that unfortunate. I've gotten "It hurts to put a bag on my shoulder(s)" and some peeling, but never a second degree burn from the sun. Ow. I wanna run for the ice just thinking about it (I have a tendency to take two hour naps on a beach at noon in the height of summer, in full sunlight, too. I like the sun.)

[Skytroque]

The looksfantastic with the biolumination...I love it!

[Mermaid Enora]

That is INTENSE.
yeah it still hurts REALLY bad!

[Mermaid Enora]

I like being in the sun so much, but it just hurts so bad without sunscreen and sometimes with the sunscreen.
I've had MUCH worse sunburns all over my body than the pics above. This burn was fairly mild compared to some other I have had since it mostly only affected my shoulders and not my whole body.
Still hurt a lot to move.

[Sabrina the Selkie]

:(
I hope it heals well and soon!

[PrettyScorpio]

I'm a really pale Hispanic, so I know exactly what you mean. A blistering sunburn is no fun.

On the rare occasions when I goof up and get a serious burn, I use an old folk remedy. When your skin still has the "hot" sun burn feel to it, slice a ripe room temp tomato really thin and place it on the burn. When the tomato gets hot replace it with a fresh slice. Repeat until the burning feeling goes away. It can take between one and three hours depending on the burn. Follow up with your favorite aloe product.

I don't know if it will work on an older sunburn as well as a fresh one. I have used this method on myself and a friend who is a true albino.

I have know idea what in tomatoes causes that reaction but my family has been using that for generations.

It can't hurt to try it, I hope this helps.

[PrettyScorpio]

I'm a really pale Hispanic, so I know exactly what you mean. A blistering sunburn is no fun.

On the rare occasions when I goof up and get a serious burn, I use an old folk remedy. When your skin still has the "hot" sun burn feel to it, slice a ripe room temp tomato really thin and place it on the burn. When the tomato gets hot replace it with a fresh slice. Repeat until the burning feeling goes away. It can take between one and three hours depending on the burn. Follow up with your favorite aloe product.

I don't know if it will work on an older sunburn as well as a fresh one. I have used this method on myself and a friend who is a true albino.

I have no idea what in tomatoes causes that reaction but my family has been using that for generations.

It can't hurt to try it, I hope this helps.

[Mermaid Enora]

I still have some residual burn from key west. Doesn't hurt anymore at least.