From her twenties onwards, Maxine Whitton became so used to being stared at wherever she went that she developed various strategies to deal with strangers. To small children who pointed, horrified, at the white patches on her chocolate brown skin, she would smile encouragingly and suggest that they touch her to reassure themselves.

Last year, I wrote an ebook with my friend Joanne, which details how to get over a broken heart. I know this has little to do with vitiligo, but perhaps some of the ideas can be used to deal with other issues you may confront.
The ebook can be viewed in pdf form here

The meeting “Medicine & Me: Vitiligo”, organised jointly with the Vitiligo Society, will bring together patients, their families, caregivers, advocates, patient support groups, clinicians and researchers to discuss Vitiligo. This meeting will focus on initial experiences at diagnosis, psychological aspects of the disease with especial reference to issues of ethnicity, and issues around patient pathways within the NHS.

There are times in life when you may find it necessary to build a fortress around your heart (a.k.a. your psyche) to provide a sanctuary for your feelings. Self preservation is our number one primal instinct, and we will stop at almost nothing in order to protect ourselves.   Whether you apply this to hiding your vitiligo, or to avoiding potential relationships because of your vitiligo, the results are the same; the wall keeps out the potential hurt, but it also stops the inflow of experiencing many wonderful moments in life.