This vitiligo advocate from India is a true superwoman

Ashish Agarwal November 9, 2021

2 183 6 minutes read

Loving yourself is a term that is propagated by many. But most of the time, it is easier said than done. But that isn’t the case for our 24-year-old hero Prarthana Jagan. Living with vitiligo, Prarthana is not only redefining the so-called beauty standards of our country, but she is also changing the way one views a person living with a skin condition.

She has time and again stated and proven that Vitiligo doesn’t stop her from becoming who she is today. It is a part of her which she embraces and loves. She is unique inside and out and is spreading body positivity all over social media, print media and the fashion world to help people overcome their insecurities.

“I’m no warrior; I am just an ordinary girl trying to embody confidence and self-love and empower other people with vitiligo to feel comfortable in their own skin.”

Vitiligo is Prarthana’s companion from early childhood

Prarthana has been living with Vitiligo since she was 11 years old. While the exact cause of this condition is unknown, it is an autoimmune skin condition that occurs where the immune system got faulty and starts attacking body’s own healthy skin cells. The melanocytes are the skin cells that synthesize melanin, a kind of pigment that gives the natural color to the skin and hairs. In case of vitiligo, the malfunctioning immune system attacks these melanocytes and result in de-pigmentation in the form of white patches on the skin.

Vitiligo is neither communicable nor painful, but at the same time, it does not have a once-for-ever cure as well. There are treatments available that can help with avoiding further spreading of the condition and sometimes, partial re-pigmentation is also achieved. But, it remains a roller coaster ride as you never know what can trigger the immune system to flare up the condition. Few of the most obvious culprits of an autoimmune reaction are chronic stress, poor gut health, faulty genes, skin injuries, compromised diet and lifestyle, and certain environmental triggers.

Hence, living with vitiligo is a kind of life-time affair where you have to make peace with your skin condition, accept it as a part of you and move on.

Being unique in a country like India which has set norms of beauty, can be difficult. The social stigma surrounding a condition as ‘rare’ and as visible as vitiligo can be both mentally and psychologically scarring. And Prarthana was no stranger to it.

Her share of struggle with various treatments

When the spots first occurred, she disregarded them as mere white patches caused due to deworming. But soon she realized that wasn’t the case. As Vitiligo wasn’t such a prominent condition back then, enough knowledge wasn’t available regarding it. So as she went to many dermatologists, some misdiagnosed her. One of them told her to go out and play more in the sun to reduce the spots. But contrary to her advice, Vitiligo is triggered more due to the sun and hence the white spots started spreading like wildfire.

“I did multiple things to check the spreading. I tried almost every possible medical system, Ayurveda, Allopathy and tried Homeopathy for 5 years as well but nothing worked really,”

One of the most horrifying experiences she had to go through was using UV radiations as the cure. The nurse turned the treatment aggressive which resulted in Prarthana almost burning her face. “It was excruciatingly painful. I couldn’t even smile for a long time”, She recalls.

Despite such painful and scary incidents she did not give up and kept on trying to keep a positive outlook towards life.

The quest to keep vitiligo a painful secret

Being different in your teenage years can be a truly terrifying experience and Prarthana had to face the brunt of it. She was called numerous names including ‘orange face’, ‘zombie-face’ and what now. She was also called “The mask” because of the thick layer of makeup she used to do for school to conceal the vitiligo patches.

She used to put on makeup even while going grocery shopping. She drifted to a point where she could barely recognize herself. It was tormenting for her as a young kid, who didn’t know much about makeup having to do heavy contouring and constant touch-ups. Despite all this, her parents’ unconditional love and support kept her going.

The turning point

In 2016, a tragedy happened which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. She had to undergo surgery and due to complications, her stay was extended at the hospital and she couldn’t continue with her make-up regimen for obvious reasons.

To her surprise, she wasn’t treated any differently by the hospital staff and doctors. For those people, her vitiligo was not a big deal at all. That left a positive impact on Prarthana and from there onwards she started celebrating the newfound confidence and her unique skin.

A new ‘super confident’ Prarthana

She soon launched her very own YouTube channel where she would share her life-experiences, gives makeup trainings and spreads positivity about living with vitiligo. In today’s time, everyone is constantly exposed to ideal skin and body over the social media and other digital spaces in the form of models, celebrities and fitness experts. We start comparing our body, our skin and other features with theirs and develop poor body-image.

Prarthana is doing exactly opposite to that.

In her video tutorials, she flaunts her vitiligo with pride and inspires others to accept and embrace their skin imperfections rather than chasing unrealistic goals. She inspires her viewers to look good and become their version, but without compromising on the self-esteem.

If you need tips about living with a positive and fulfilling life with vitiligo, you must become a regular viewer to her videos. For her, emotional well being is as important as taking care of the skin on the physical level, and she practices exercise, meditation and yoga for a healthy mind and body.

A vitiligo advocate, a social media celebrity, a model and what not

With her confidence and courage, she has been influencing thousands of lives. She has built up a powerful virtual family that loves and supports her immensely. She has around 11K followers on Instagram and 800+ subscribers on YouTube, which she time and again mentions, she is thankful for.

Prarthana’s journey is not only limited to social media. She has been breaking glass ceilings in modeling for quite some time now. The growing tendency among the fashion and beauty brands to become more inclusive and diversified has given opportunities to vitiligo beauties like Prarthana to try their hands at modeling and showbiz.

Her first big project was In November 2016 when she modeled for Elle Magazine.

It was followed by Grazia in 2017, for a campaign called “No Digital Distortion”. The campaign focused on showing women’s raw, unfiltered looks which will redefine the original set standards of beauty. The concept aligned perfectly well with what Prarthana’s ideals stood for.

In 2020, she was featured on the cover of the Cosmos. She was also signed by the Blunt Agency for modeling, who she states, treat her like a family.

The most recently, she was chosen to be one of the faces for Mac Cosmetics India’s campaign along with many big names, including company’s brand ambassador and Bollywood actor Bhumi Pednekar. She is a part of such a big project that made many women in the country living with the same condition excited to be finally represented.

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A post shared by Prarthana✨ (@prarthanajagan)

Lessons to learn from this vitiligo superwoman

She celebrates Vitiligo and has even mentioned in her Youtube videos that Vitiligo has made her the confident person she is today. She urges people to be kind to each other and help each other lift the spirit and live a better life.

She has shared her story on Instagram with the hash tag #PrarthsGetsReal where she became honest and realistic, showing her followers that it is okay to be unapologetically you. Her true to life attitude and her motto of “fall down seven, get up eight” is so powerful and inspiring to everyone insecure out there.