With another World Vitiligo Awareness Month behind us, it’s an opportunity to look back at the events that brought our community together, celebrate the progress we’ve made and consider how we can build on this momentum as we continue raise awareness within a number of different areas such as healthcare, research and general society.

Here at The Vitiligo Society, we marked the occasion by hosting a special online webinar featuring three outstanding speakers: Dean Edwards, Dr Andrew Thomas and Dr Viktoria Eleftheriadou, who delivered insightful presentations that focused on understanding the impact of a personal journey with vitiligo, coping resources and managing the reactions of others and access, treatment pathways and support in the NHS. We also heard from Abbie Hurrell, Society CEO and Gurdeep Romanay, Society Chairperson who spoke about the future of vitiligo support in the UK

The webinar was a tremendous success, with around 120 people joining us from across the community. Throughout the evening, our speakers explored some of the topics that matter most to people living with vitiligo and as always, the opportunity to learn, ask questions and connect with others proved invaluable. The Q&A session at the end sparked plenty of conversation and allowed us to understand what is often on the minds of people living with the condition.

Across the Atlantic, the celebrations continued in spectacular fashion at the three-day World Vitiligo Day USA event in Charlotte. Bringing together patients, advocates, clinicians and researchers, the event highlighted just how far the global vitiligo community has come and the importance of creating spaces where people feel understood, supported and celebrated. If you’d like to read more about the event, Erika Page from Living Dappled has published an excellent roundup feature of the entire event: ⁠Inside WVD USA 2026: A Weekend of Not Having to Explain Your Skin.

Founder of Vitiligo Voices Canada, Omar Sharife, who also attended shared his thoughts on how he felt the conference went “This year’s WVD conference in Charlotte NC was another powerful milestone for the vitiligo community. On a personal level, it reminded me just how essential it is to connect with others who truly understand this lived experience. While everyone’s vitiligo journey is deeply individual, these global gatherings highlight just how much we have in common and remind us that we aren’t alone. I hope to see these large-scale international meet-ups continue to expand and bring more of us together”.

World Vitiligo Month is about far more than awareness. It is about connection. It provides an opportunity for people living with vitiligo to see themselves represented, to hear stories that reflect their own experiences and to access trusted information that can help them make informed decisions about their care. It also helps to foster collaboration between patient organisations, healthcare professionals and researchers, ensuring that the voices of those living with vitiligo remain at the heart of progress.

As awareness continues to grow around the world, there is enormous potential for World Vitiligo Awareness Month to evolve even further. We hope to see more collaborative events, greater public engagement, increased research and wider access to support and treatment for everyone affected by vitiligo. Together, these efforts can help reduce stigma, improve understanding and create a future where vitiligo is recognised not just during one month of the year, but every day.

Thank you to everyone who joined our webinar, supported events around the world and helped make World Vitiligo Awareness Month 2026 such a meaningful success. We look forward to building on this momentum together.