Woman with rare skin condition gets Tattoo as perfect response to people's stares

A woman with Vitilogo got a tattoo as a response to people's stares. After deciding to stop hiding her vitiligo, Tifanny Posteraro, 24, decided to take direct action to deal with the unwanted attention she received. She had the words 'It's called vitiligo' tattooed across her forearm after ditching the thick foundation she'd been wearing for years and deciding she had nothing to hide.

Tiffany spent 17 years covering up her body and wearing thick make-up to avoid cruel comments about the condition, which causes pale patches to develop on the skin due to a lack of melanin. But a chance encounter with another sufferer changed her outlook and now she wears her white bits with pride.

Tiffany, who lives in Brooklyn, New York and grew up in Florida, first noticed small white spots on her knees aged seven.

“I showed my parents but we just thought they must be scars or something,” she said. “Over time I got a few on my wrists and then it spread around my whole kneecaps.

“We had no idea what it was. A dermatologist gave me some ointment but it did nothing.
“Then, when I was 11, I was in a grocery store with my mum and a man pulled me aside and said: ‘You have vitiligo.' He had the same thing and recommended putting a brand of dandruff shampoo called Selsun Blue on my skin every night to get rid of it. I didn’t want to go to school smelling strange so I ignored that.

“Now I had a name for it but I still didn’t know much about it. My parents didn’t make a big deal about it. To them I was just Tiffany. It was comforting in a sense but I wish I could have known more about it. When people stared and made nasty comments, I had no comeback because I didn’t understand my condition.