What is the Difference Between Leprosy and Leucoderma

The key difference between leprosy and leucoderma is that leprosy is a skin condition that causes disfiguring skin sores on the skin due to infection by Mycobacterium leprae, while leucoderma is a skin condition that causes whites patches on the skin due to partial or complete loss of skin pigmentation.

Generally, skin disorders vary greatly in symptoms and severity. They can be temporary or permanent. Moreover, these skin disorders may be painless or painful. Many skin disorders have situational causes. But some have genetic predispositions. While most skin disorders are minor, others can indicate a more serious issue in the body. Leprosy and leucoderma are two different types of skin disorders.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Leprosy 
3. What is Leucoderma
4. Similarities – Leprosy and Leucoderma
5. Leprosy vs Leucoderma in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Leprosy vs Leucoderma

What is Leprosy (Hansen’s Disease)?

Leprosy is a skin condition that causes disfiguring skin sores on the skin due to infection by Mycobacterium leprae. It is also known as Hansen’s disease (HD). Other than skin sores, this infection also leads to damage to nerves, respiratory tract, and eyes. The nerve damage may result in a lack of ability to feel pain that can ultimately lead to the loss of parts of a person’s extremities (limb or body appendages) from repeated injuries. People can catch leprosy if only they come into close and repeated contact with nose and mouth droplets from someone with leprosy. Children are more likely to get leprosy than adults.

Leprosy is defined by the number and type of skin sore people have. Therefore, there are three forms of leprosy: tuberculoid, lepromatous, and borderline. Tuberculoid is a less severe form. The tuberculoid form is characterised by only one or a few patches of flat, pale coloured skin. Lepromatous is a more severe form. It brings widespread skin bumps, rashes, numbness, and muscle weakness. Meanwhile, people with borderline form have symptoms of both tuberculoid and lepromatous forms. Leprosy can be diagnosed with skin slit smear, lepromin test, skin biopsy, and M. Leprae DNA PCR. Furthermore, first-line antibiotics for the treatment of leprosy are dapsone, rifampicin, and clofazimine. Other drugs include ofloxacin, moxifloxacin, minocycline, clarithromycin, rifapentine, and diarylquinolone. In addition to the above treatment options, the BCG vaccine also works against M. Leprae.

What is Leucoderma (Vitiligo)?

Leucoderma is a skin condition that causes white patches on the skin due to partial or complete loss of skin pigmentation. It is also known as vitiligo. There are two types of leukoderma: non-segmental and segmental. Non-segmental leucoderma is characterized by white patches appearing in both halves of the body, which are often symmetrical in the region they appear. Segmental leucoderma is characterized by white patches restricted to one segment or one half of the body.

The symptoms of leucoderma include depigmentation of skin areas exposed to the sun, itching of white patches when exposed to sun or in excessive sweating, premature greying of hairs, changing of retina colour, etc. Leucoderma is mainly due to autoimmune diseases. The other causes of this condition may include genetics, infections (viral or bacterial), occupation (exposure to some chemicals), and neurogenic factors. Furthermore, leucoderma can be diagnosed through physical examination, skin biopsy, or blood tests. Treatment options for leucoderma include medications (pimecrolimus and tacrolimus), light therapy, and skin grafts.

What are the Similarities Between Leprosy and Leucoderma?

• Leprosy and leucoderma are two different types of skin disorders.
• In both medical conditions, skin sores are pale in colour.
• Diagnosis of both medical conditions can be made through physical examination.
• They can be treated with medications.

What is the Difference Between Leprosy and Leucoderma?

Leprosy is a skin condition that causes disfiguring skin sores on the skin due to infection by Mycobacterium leprae, while leucoderma is a skin condition that causes whites patches on the skin due to partial or complete loss of skin pigmentation. Thus, this is the key difference between leprosy and leucoderma. Furthermore, leprosy is divided into three types as tuberculoid, lepromatous, and borderline, while leucoderma is divided into two types as non-segmental and segmental.

The below infographic presents the differences between leprosy and leucoderma in tabular form for side by side comparison.

Summary – Leprosy vs Leucoderma

Leprosy and leucoderma are two different types of skin disorders. Leprosy causes disfiguring skin sores on the skin due to infection by Mycobacterium leprae, while leucoderma causes white patches on the skin due to partial or complete loss of skin pigmentation. So, this is the key difference between leprosy and leucoderma.

Reference:

1. Darvin Scott Smith, MD. “Leprosy.” Emedicine | Medscape.
2. “Leukoderma.” An Overview | ScienceDirect Topics.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Multibacillary leprosy lesion” By Centers for Disease Control (USA) – (CC0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Depigmentation of the skin from repeated episodes of skin inflammation associated with the death of microfilariae.” By Community Eye Health (CC BY-NC 2.0) via Flickr